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Listen to the appeal of this Dalit woman!
NP Upadhyaya
It has been rightly said that a man's acumen is tested when difficulties befall on him. It is also said that and is believed that pleasure and difficulties never go together. The end of the one ushers in the beginning of the other one which means that moments of pleasure are followed by periods of difficulties and vice versa.
However, there are certain social conditions that also have its own sort of impact on one's lives. For example, if the one who is supposed to be the guardian of a family suddenly absconds or abandons his or her social responsibilities, the family in question certainly lands in trouble.
One such example has come to my notice through Deshantar weekly which has painfully depicted the pitiful story of a lady who has been abandoned by her husband for some two years and has to go through many ordeals to maintain her social standing together with the caring of a small child.
She is Nand Kala Devi Bishwakarma. She hails from a Dalit family.
This lady had to face a social stigma when her husband fled with yet another lady and began residing in another district.
Nand Kala has a son who needs her utmost care including that of the schooling.
Tired of waiting and waiting of her husband's happy come back, Nand kala finally decided that it would now be foolishness to go on in for waiting a husband who apparently was enjoying a new life with his newly wed consort.
Nand Kala, whose courage and stamina must be encouraged and admired, finally began a job that is literally meant for the male figures who are supposed to possess more physical stamina that the other sex.
She finally became a Rickshaw puller. It is a three-wheeler cycle that is used in the terai belt as a means of transportation.
Nand Kala earns about hundred and hundred fifty a day on an average. The money thus earned she utilizes to maintain two meals a day plus managing the school fees for her son.
She is happy in this profession for she thinks that this job currently undertaken by her is better than going on in for begging with begging bowls.
Though her tender age at times brings in some pain for her from her young passengers, but yet she says that on an average the rest of the passengers using her three-wheeler encourage her.
Nand Kala now has an appeal: she says that if any NGO or for that matter INGOs provide her training then she would be more than happy to become the driver of a Machine operated three wheeler.
Is some body listening to Nand Kala's plight and is ready to extend support so that Nand Kala's ultimate wishes are fulfilled?
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