Logo of Everyone is good at something

santosh

santosh
kumari , himachal
pradesh

Santosh Kumari (40), who has dwarfism, stands in front of her small house, holding a large, purple, open umbrella. The top of an underarm crutch fits in her right armpit. She wears a pista-green full-sleeved kameez, red salwar and red dupatta. Her long hair tied back shows streaks of white. The roughly cemented compound is wet with rain. Her hut has mud walls and a covered cement verandah supported by pillars. The sloping roof is slate-coloured and rain is falling from its eaves in straight lines. There are several tall trees in the background.
Santosh sits behind a black hand-operated old-fashioned sewing machine with a wooden base. Her right hand is on the wheel and left hand on a long piece of peacock blue fabric beneath the needle. There is a spool of golden thread on the arm of the machine and the fabric has intricate golden embroidery around the neck of a kameez that is getting stitched. To the right of the machine there are pieces of orange, dark blue and shocking pink fabric. The wall behind Santosh is light pink.
Santosh, wearing a beige-gold kameez and peacock blue dupatta and facing the camera, sits cross-legged in her kitchen with mud walls. The mud floor is painted leaf-green. There is a plain mud wall behind Santosh and in front of her there is a twin-burner gas stove placed on the floor. The right burner shows a blue flame and Santosh is about to place a large steel vessel on it with her right hand. To the right of the stove there is a traditional mud chulha (oven) on which a large steel vessel has been placed. To the right of the chulha, an upright iron pan with a handle leans against the mud wall. In front of the chulha there is a basket of onions on the floor.
Santosh, resting on her underarm crutch, stands outdoors on uneven rocky ground next to a large brown goat. She wears a peacock blue salwar, kameez and dupatta, and pink slippers with black-and-white straps. The bottom of the kameez has an embroidered panel with a floral motif of red flowers and green leaves. The motif is repeated on the dupatta, which is edged with golden tassels. She holds a concave steel dish in her right hand. The goat is tied with a thick rope to a wooden stake at the base of two trees. Only the broad trunks of the trees are captured in the frame of the photo. The head of a brown-and-white goat peeps from behind Santosh.
From left to right: Santosh’s brothers Janam Singh (49) and Karam Chand (44), Santosh, and her niece Anita Singh (18) sit side by side on a steel cot with their legs crossed. Janam has a moustache and cropped hair. He wears grey trousers and a biscuit-coloured full-sleeved shirt printed with tiny black motifs. Karama has a moustache and cropped hair. He wears black pants and a light grey T-shirt. Santosh wears a pista green kameez, red salwar and red dupatta draped over her shoulders. Anita wears a plain, royal blue churidhar-kameez with a round neck and three-fourth sleeves. The mattress is covered with a bedspread in a rust-red and white geometrical design. The wall behind them is light pink.
Icon to view photos in full screen

“When I needed help, no one cared. When people became more understanding, I no longer needed their help”

It took many years before Santosh Kumari (40) from Rachhialu village in Himachal Pradesh could stand on her own two feet – literally. After an unspecified illness at age three left her with a severe locomotor disability, she says her parents Ram Ranu and Leela Devi neglected her. Since they were poor – Ram was an agricultural labourer and Leela took up whatever odd jobs she could find – they didn’t try to consult a doctor to find out what ailed Santosh, and focussed only on her older brothers Janam Singh and Karam Chand and her younger sister Vanda Devi.
 
Speaking to Santosh, who also has dwarfism, we detected her simmering bitterness towards her parents. She especially resents their not bothering to send her to school. While they went out to work and her siblings went to school, she was left to crawl about in their single-room hut, feeling trapped indoors. “It was my sister who taught me to read and write,” she says. Janam completed eighth standard and the other two, tenth standard. She was never taken along on family outings, despite her pleas and angry tears, because “I was a burden they would have to carry”.
 
Ram and Leela worked hard to build a new house – a larger structure with a garden and courtyard – a short distance from their hut. The family moved there when Santosh was 13. Janam encouraged her to use a crutch and slowly “this miracle happened”: she started assisting her mother with domestic tasks such as cooking and dishwashing, and was able to move beyond the confines of four walls. However, the outside world wasn’t so welcoming. She had no friends, and her short stature became the butt of snide remarks. “People would speak nicely to my face but laugh at me behind my back,” she recalls.
 
Leela used to earn petty amounts from neighbours by sewing garments from fabric that they had already cut to size. Once, she asked Santosh to go next door and collect cut material. The woman rudely told her, “Why don’t you cut the cloth yourself?” Whenever anyone addresses Santosh dismissively or challenges her, she grows more resolute. She went to a nearby tailor to learn stitching and became adept at the sewing machine in just a month and a half. “I began stitching for local families, but they never paid me, so I stopped,” she says. “Now I stitch clothes only for my family.”
 
According to Janam, “Santosh has an unbreakable will. If she sets her mind on doing something, she will make it happen.” She has a good relationship with her sisters-in-law. “They respect me,” she says. Janam is saddened by the fact that she doesn’t have a family of her own. She doesn’t plan to marry, either; her nephews and nieces are her surrogate children. Janam (49) has twin boys – graduates doing a computer course – and a daughter in her second year degree. Karam (44) has an eight-year-old son and a daughter in kindergarten. Janam’s 18-year-old daughter Anita says, ““I feel even closer to my aunt than my mother and am able to talk to her freely and ask her for anything.”
 
Santosh started her association with the Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD) after one of their employees came across her in 2016. She attends their meetings and says she learnt a lot from them about disability and life skills. Of course, even before she encountered CORD she’s been earning her living, rearing goats and poultry. She has now become the primary breadwinner of the joint family! While Ram (70) is not working, Leela died of cancer five years ago, Vanda stays in her marital home, and Janam and Karam are daily-wage agricultural labourers who don’t have a steady income. Santosh sells eggs, chickens, and lambs. She currently has 25 hens and seven goats, and refuses to let anyone else tend to them. “We should ask only God for help, no one else,” she says. “And then we should put in hard work to reach our goals.”
 
Santosh believes that life has made her wise. “I take care of everyone but don’t expect anything in return. But I do urge all parents to take good care of their children, whatever their condition or disability, and give them as normal a life as possible.” Her main wish now is to see her beloved nephews and nieces well-established in life. Once that happens, she would like to travel to Mathura and Vrindavan.


Photos:

Vicky Roy

©Copyrights - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/