Photo on representational purpose.(by jenifa)
I don’t know her name. It may be Sheema, Geeta, and Mina…or anything. I don’t know her age too, but I can guess. She will, hardly, be 15 or 16. But I know her. She comes early in the morning, everyday, before we get up. She cleans the waste bucket without making a single noise. Shhhhh… we are sleeping!!!!!!!. It’s her Duty. We call her ‘kurawalli’.
Before the incident, I never cared to think about her. I was writing my third semester final examinations. That morning, as usual, she came with bare feet and very less cloth, which I am sure, was not able to save her from the chilled December morning of Delhi. As it was examination time, I got up early, as most of the students do. (Generally, if I have class I wake up at 8.00 in the morning or else I wake up at 11.00 in the morning). I opened the door and she looked at me. The waste bucket was really dirty and it was giving away foul smell. So she said “didi yeh bohot ganda ho gaya hai. Isko phek do” (madam, it has become too dirty. Throw it away). I asked her to wash it (perhaps to save some money and to get rid of the pain of going and buying a new one). She refused. I had no other option but to permit her to throw it away. She was happy, most probably for she wont have to clean the dirtiest thing early in the morning or/ and I listened to her. But above all, she was happy and it showed on her face.
At 9.00am I went to write my Cultural Geography examination and forgot about the incident. In the evening all the girls were cooking their dinner in the one and only shared kitchen of our P.G. (paying guest accommodation). I raised the issue that we had no waste bucket and we needed to buy a new one and eventually narrated the whole story. One of the girls asked me why not I asked the kurawalli to wash it. I told that she refused to wash it and I had to give her the permission to throw it away as no one else was around. Hearing that, suddenly, all the girls turned to me and shouted “WHAT?”(As if I have thrown a bomb amidst them). And to my surprise all of them were of the view that how dare a dirty, small fella could say NO to us. Does not she know about her status and as well as our on the vertical scale. She should always remember that she is just and kurawalli… and blah blah blah…
I could not utter a single word at that moment. It was such a shock for me. After 2-3 minutes I could say only these words, “She is also a girl and above all she is a Human Being. And YES SHE DARED TO SAY NO.”
4 comments:
yeah,that girl has also a right to say no,does it matter tht she is kurawalli or someone else?
moreover she is a human being,nd earns a respactable amount of money after working.and if anyone says about vertical leaving status,in that too i think she is better than us,we are student and juss having time on our parents money,and she is earning herself to hav meal for two times.
These things matter only for very few people...for others her status in the vertical scale is more important..i don't know when time will change....
How dare she say NO!!!! that too a kudawali! Well people should realise that its because of the maid, the sweeper, the kudawallas and kudawallis that we live in clean environments. Our homes would have stunk if they werent out there to help us. Just one day if they dont turn up our whole life goes haywire, the dusty floor, the unwashed vessels, the undisposed waste....somewhere they make our days, they make our lives go smoothly. the dignity of labour that they have we just fail to see that.
Sometimes even education does no good....but widen the ignorance of life.
As someone mentioned that "Chilhood is measured by the sounds and smells and sights before the dark hour of reason grows"...your thought evokes that innocence.. the same way a child perceives his enviromnent..devoid of the corrupt reasons that we adults are bent on to justify our own vested interests..nice thoughts....liked it...
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