A Dream from Afar

The two women who help with our housework came to me, for employment, with two different tales to tell. But the underlying essence of both the stories was that of exploitation and discrimination. When I heard their stories at first they seemed like something straight out of an Indian film; but as I became a part of their life I began to feel their struggle. This is not to say that my life does not have its elements of struggle but the parameters that define and control that are quite different. 

Over the years that they have been employed with me I have had the opportunity to understand their circumstances and they, mine. When I was seriously ill a few years back, it almost seemed to them that I, too, had the same problems as they which up until then seemed like quite a distant possibility to them - I was like this woman who was always ‘in control’ and bereft of any vulnerability. As I wreathed in pain, I held on to one lady’s arm, and she had tears in her eyes at my plight and her helplessness. Suddenly, pain become a common-factor between us; something that we could identify with, albeit in our own ways. Once back from the hospital, I wondered how these women would have faced a situation similar to mine. My respect for them grew many-fold as I realised that they were stronger than I, both physically and mentally.

I see their life more closely now - the lack of a schooling (and education) that leaves them in the throes of superstition, the aspiration for a better life, the desire to look prettier and the hunger to know more through visual media. I am sometimes amused by their situations and they simply dismiss me as being incapable of comprehension; I am supportive of their desire for a better life and teach them the little that I know, help them with a bit of my own world-wisdom and empower them to make choices. 

But this is only about the two women who have become a part of my day-to-day existence. Much as our lives are intertwined in the little way that it is, my dreams for them are still beyond the periphery - of better healthcare, the power of the right to make life-choices and access to knowledge as a tool to a better life. For now, these are dreams from afar, though not far away…