The sparkling, alert eyes don’t quite fit in with the rest of the picture: the deeply-lined face partly hidden by the closely-wrapped hijab, the ageing body bundled in layers of warm clothing, the weathered hands displaying the bundle of vegetables for sale on the roadside kerb. But the youthful spirit shines through when she starts to speak, as does her steely determination to remain self supporting as she has always been, through the vicissitudes of life. Courage, she believes, comes from unflinching faith: first in the Almighty and then in one’s own strength. Meet Marzi Banoo, hailing from Tsanra, a village where all the marvels of Nature’s beauty coexist, fifty kilometers from Kargil town. At the age of twenty-nine, when her peers were well entrenched in the duties of a homemaker, Marzi followed the voice of her restless soul and took a cab down the main borough to earn a living for herself. Today at the grand age of sixty, she has achieved a decent standard of living and continues to accomplish more. With empty pockets and a heart brimming with hope, the young Marzi started off, thirty one years ago, as a helper at a private school in the Suru Valley in Kargil. She would carefully save from her meager earnings, and invest those modest savings in buying vegetables at the princely sum of six rupeesfrom places like Lhonche and Tsaleskot in the outskirts of the valley, where their production is abundant. Managing to sell them for eight rupees, her profit-making business venture had begun. For nine years now, Marzi has been occupying the same corner in the main market of Kargil, with a wooden slab to sit on and her vegetable sacks lined in the frontFresh spinach, green leaves, turnip, carrot and radish - her offerings earn her up to 150 to 200 rupees daily. Helping Marzi and several other women like her is the agriculturally favorable topography of Kargil that offers a great reserve of suitable soil and water supply for irrigation purpose, coupled with the right amount of solar energy. Recognizing the wealth of natural resources, an agency called the Kargil Renewable Energy Development Authority (KREDA), established in 2010, has implemented several schemes that incorporate Biodegradable Projects and Solar and Thermal Energy Assignments, which are a great success. These also include the establishment of greenhouses in far flung villages to help the community sustain on them both domestically and commercially, especially during the daunting winter spell. And this has benefited the women folk remarkably in terms of livelihood. Yet another step taken to sustain the production of vegetables and women’s employment is the establishment of Kitchen Gardens. Along with personal kitchen gardens put up by households, several Women Self Help Groups also encourage similar proposals to help housewives and unschooled women folk earn their living. The local authorities have been providing subsidies to such groups to strengthen the dual benefits, further enhancing the socio-economic status of the region. Gaining from such prospects, Marzi Banoo reiterates, “Considering any work trivial and worthless is the greatest blunder one could possibly make. We must not fail to avail opportunities.” She strongly believes in development in every respect, and proclaims that work and progress should be one’s dictum in life. Marzi Banoo belongs to a Muslim society, where pilgrimage to the Holy Mecca is mandatory, at least once in a lifetime, with an exemption made for those who cannot afford it. A woman with her background, who earns nothing or very little, is dependent on the husband, brother or son to go on the holy pilgrimage, called Hajj. Breaking this conventional trend, she not only performed Hajj in 2008 on her savings but has also successfully completed her fifth Umra, the ‘minor pilgrimage’ to the Holy Mecca, undertaken at any time of the year. “Sleeping won’t help and indolence is a sin”, pronounces Marzi. Making profound sense, she asserts that staying idle leads to immoral conduct, like stealing, slaying and debauchery. “Kasab” (honest work), she reaffirms, makes humankind reverent and reminds us to celebrate life. A mother of one and grandmother of two, Marzi Banoo, a Class I pass out, understanding the import of schooling and has done well in educating her only child. Today, her daughter is an able nurse; one of her grandsons is a computer instructor and the other, in the transport business. Both are settled, earn well and their children also go to school. Governing her whole life on the premise of individualism, she does not remember ever asking for what she had not earned herself. ‘It is a disgrace to spread out our palms asking for charity”, she proclaims. With such absolute determination and without seeking any monetary aid from her family, she built a three-room house for her family. But sticking to her principles, she herself lives in a two- room apartment with a helper girl in Lchangchik, situated in the main bazaar of Kargil. A traditionally rooted woman with a contemporary stance, Marzi doesn’t believe in unnecessary intervention in her children’s lives. “As long as I am in good health, I shall not depend on my children (referring to her grandchildren as well). They have their own lives and families to look after and I do not intend to bother them,” she professes with composure and prudence. Marzi Banoo reflects a trait common among all the women folk of Kargil: a wholehearted plunge into the ocean of manual labor for the family’s nurturing. . Grabbing every opportunity to work that gives them immense satisfaction and a sense of productivity. Workaholic is perhaps one clichéd word that describes these women of great vigor and faith. Even as they dedicate their lives to their home and hearth, they have earned the freedom to grow as individuals, to not be burdened with household chores at the expense of their progress in other spheres.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 05:53:04 +0000
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