The Hindu Business Line : She works, she earns, she protects

For Rekha, Mahashivaratri means much more than Women's Day. Despite problems at home, she manages to save Rs 1,000 per month from her monthly earnings of about Rs 4,000. Today, she has about Rs 15,000 in her bank account.

ONE kept aside the morning newspapers to chop vegetables in the kitchen to give Rama a break it being the International Women's Day. In the evening, Rama plans to see a Mohanlal film at Malad with Vidya which meant one had mind the cooking in the evening with the menu being set by Vidya. Our housemaid Rekha walked in late at about 9 in the morning and we thought she had taken an off to celebrate the International Women's Day.

"Aaj, International Women's Day hai; humlogon ka din hai (it's our day)," Rama told Rekha who in turn asked, "Woh kya hai? (What's that)." Rama explained to her in detail the importance of being a woman and observing the International Women's Day. It was probably the first time Rekha had heard about the Day marked in red on the calendar. "Achcha, isliye saab aaj khana bana raha hai (That's why the saab is cooking today)," Rekha said with a toothy, stained with tobacco smile and got on to clean the home. While at work she told Rama the reason for turning up late. For her, Mahashivaratri means much more than Women's Day.

She got up early in the morning, prepared a cup of tea for herself and offered her prayers to Lord Shiva at a roadside temple of which there are many in Borivili. She and her family will fast for 24 hours and Rekha does not take anything except a glass of water when work at various homes tires her. She misses Dakhi, my second daughter, who is married and settled in Dahisar. She used to download her problems to Dakhi and now it is Rama.

Despite problems at home, which is a tin chawl on the edge of the Gorai Road, she continues to live with an unusual zest. Her useless son-in-law, John, her daughter Sumati, their two kids and Rekha's son live on her monthly earnings of about Rs 4,000 and an equal amount earned by her husband working as a security guard. That's tough as she saves every month Rs 1,000 having opened a savings account in a government bank.

As she cannot write or read any language, Rama helped her opening the account. Initially, the bank clerk had problems as Rekha had no birth-date but that was overcome and Rekha today has about Rs 15,000 in her account. It is another matter that she cannot withdraw the entire sum as Mr P. Chidambaram has levied a 0.1 per cent tax on withdrawals of above Rs 10,000 to track black money.

Rekha is unaware that she and every Indian with a bank account are today suspects or worse in the eyes of the Finance Minister. She is planning to take a short break with her sister to chat up with her relatives in Ratnagiri whom she misses much. But her present worry is her two-year old grand-daughter, who has started picking up the abuses hurled around in the area where Rekha lives. Sometimes, Rekha whacks the little girl and then feels bad about it.

One day she broke down with Rama after behaving rudely with her grand-daughter. She now wants to put the little girl in a hostel for orphans and has started making inquiries with Vidya providing the phone numbers and her mobile. One is a bit troubled as the idea is something devilish. For Rekha it is not so. She was born an orphan and her uncle deposited her in a school for abandoned children in Mumbai while bringing up two of her elder sisters and a brother. She did not learn anything though she was assured of two meals every day.

When she became an adult she got married and has always been proud of the fact that her husband does not drink or smoke or release his anger on her. That unfortunately is not the case with her son who refuses to do any work though she got him a job at a wayside auto repair shop. Sumati is also not inclined to work and is not in favour of depositing her daughter in any home for orphans. One day Rama queried Rekha about the cost of maintaining a girl child away from home apart from the risks. Rekha had no answer but she still thinks that's the best way of turning her grand-daughter into a respectable middle class citizen.

On International Women's Day there are many women who lead a worse life in the area where one lives. Some of them are brought in from their villages when they are six or seven years old and made to work from morning to night by the ladies owning middle class homes.

It's a mean life — keeping the house clean, looking after school kids and running errands, all for free. Sometimes they are badly beaten up. Two leftover meals a day plus a cup of hot water called tea form their wages. "Hum unlogon se achche hain (I am better off than them)," says Rekha to score a point on International Women's Day.

P. Devarajan

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