Teachers usually and parents sometime
ask the children about their role models
. Often the answer would be some popular or famous persons or some person with
outstanding achievements in their chosen
fields of activity or one of their teachers Very rarely they mention a parent
or grand parent or some one in their relatives circle as their
role model. The reason (as per my view) is that , may be they are all taken for
granted and hence not observed closely. Had they observed them closely and
spotted some admirable qualities in them, surly , there is a chance for them to
accept one among them as a role model .
Hence, I was really surprised when my thirteen year old niece told me, when I asked her
about her role model that, “Lakshmi” the domestic assistant working in
her family for more than a decade is her role model,. Wanting to know the
reason for selecting her, I further probed
. The following statements made
by her about Laksmi were very interesting
and thought provoking.
It seems lakshmi has three children , one boy
and two girls , an elderly mother and a very irresponsible husband who is very lazy to go for regular job. Her
salary which she gets by working in 4 homes as domestic help is the only
regular source of income . Within that
income, some how, she manages to look
after her family by meeting their basic needs and educated all her children up
to school final level and given them some skill training with which they could get decent jobs . Their salary goes only
towards the savings meant for their marriages and for some emergency expenses .
She has studied only upto 3rd
standard, yet she manages her finances well.
She hates indebtedness and never ask for loans from her employers . But
, with right she will demand increase in salary when ever prices go up, since she
understand the dignity of her labour .She never expect tips for doing some
additional work, saying that she is not petty minded.
When she enters our home at 7. 30
AM , her appearance is neat and the
smile on her face is contagious. I have
never seen her narrating any sad story
about her irresponsible husband and share her worries about settling her
children in marriage. She takes leave
only on unavoidable circumstances and always punctual while rendering her
service to the four homes she serves. She
behaves like a family member when her employers home face some crises and
shares their distress in her own way ‘
She is very humane at heart . She
serves for an elderly couples and a single women, She is over protective about them .She runs additional
errands for them like paying electricity and milk coupons bills and even offer
to cook for the elderly couple when they
fall sick telling them that out
side food is not good during sickness. When the single woman is distressed over
some matter , she spends some additional minutes in spite of her roller coaster
life to cheer her up. This information was shared with us in an appreciative
tone by the single woman herself .
Due to long term service in our homes , she takes liberty a like responsible family
member and remind us about our monthly
payment of our bills such as for electricity , milk etc., She has never
shown irritation , if the work load is more in our home ,some times, due to
guests or festivals . She politely tell us, since she has to go in time to
other homes, she will do the left out work after she finishes her routine works in other homes . This
shows that punctuality is important for
her and at the same time she does not
“work to rule”as the organised labourers do. For her personal relationship is
more important than material attitude.
She has shared her worries about
her husbands irresponsible behavior towards the family obligations and his
escapism from them by making her shoulder
more responsibilities. But she has learnt to suffer this situation
silently , telling us that, it is her fate and God’s wish and she can not do any thing about it
and her only prayer to God is that, He should give her enough strength and
stamina and prolonged life till her children are well settled in life. I
understood from her simple philosophies
of life that, this is how Karma Yogis are expected to live .
Once her mother met with an
accident and she had to take prolonged leave i.e. for a month during her hospitalisation and for after discharge care . Even during such
distressed time she arranged for substitutes
for all her employers homes proving that
she is not a mercenary . No one thought of cutting her salary for that month and called her to get the salaries .
She was so moved by the gestures of her employers . Initially she was reluctant
to accept the money saying that, it
would be an unearned money . After much
coaxing, she accepted the money saying that . may be it’s Gods way of helping her through good souls .
I have never seen her with
distressed face or complaint about her
financial difficulties . She some how manages her life with the
resources available at her disposal . They are- her good health, time
management skill, her intelligence , planning skill, crisis management skill and positive attitude
towards life and economic independence without knowing these terms or the meaning of these concepts
which are often narrated by feminists while talking about the qualities
required for an empowered women. .
My niece further told me that, she has never
obsered all the qualities of Lakshmi closely, . It was her mother who was
all the time pointing out her good qualities ,like honesty, hard work ,devotion
to work, punctuality , human attitude and perfection in appearance and work , ability
face challenges of her life and positive attitude . Then she started observing
and amazed at her personal qualities and decided one day that, she would be
role model if she really has to be an “empowerment women”, so that she will have
fulfillment in her life and becomes an as stet to her family and the nation. I
too was impressed with her analysis for choosing Laksmi as her role model and thought there many unsung heroines in the
world , who are not equipped with tools of empowerment like higher level education,
skill training , healthy food , job with decent pay and family support . they
are worthy role models to emulate .
No comments:
Post a Comment