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Doll had been dusting the bookshelf while working in the house of the Hindi Professor, Shyam Kumar for the third consecutive year, when she spotted the book,’ Aamar Boro Howar Dinguli'(” My Growing Up Years”). The fresh, crisp pages, their smell, and the beautifully illustrated cover page with magical hues attracted her to open it. She finished reading the first chapter when the Professor called her.
” Doll, aap mujhe ek cup chai dijiye. Mere class ka samay ho raha hain . ” Please serve me a cup of tea, I have to leave for the class. ”
Doll had been working at Professor Shyam’s place recently. Her life was much better,as compared to the hell she had lived ever since she was four years old.
She rushed to boil the tea. Her entire life of twenty-seven ye lo k9ars flashed in front of her eyes vividly. Born in Kashmir, her father was an ex-army man, later turned into a driver and alcoholic. This was the reason why her mother left her , when she was hardly four years old. Then her father married another woman before they shifted to Murshidabad and finally settled in Durgapur, West Bengal. She remembered how she used to enjoy studying but was forced by her father to stop studying , when she was in grade six. This was followed by her marriage to Timir , a small time decorator.
This marriage at the age of thirteen was far from being blissful. At fourteen her first son, Dilip was born and within a span of the next three years Bakul and Bithi were born. Their birth only increased Timir’s level of physical torture on her. The doll was trashed almost every day or the other on some pretext. The levels of domestic violence piqued to such great heights, that she was forced to leave her home forever. She boarded a train heading towards New Delhi, with her children.
Her journey of struggles continued as she was determined to continue to study ,to educate her children and give them all a better life. She tried to work as a maid in many households but received the same amount of disrespect until she started working in Professor Shyam Kumar. He was the grandson of the prominent Bengali writer, Ujjain Kumar.
She asked the professor while serving tea.
” Sir , aami ki aei boi ta niye ektu porte pari? “( May I read this book now?).
Shyam Kumar asked her to not only complete reading the book but also prepare a summary of it in her own words. Doll agreed instantly for this gave her scope for a new beginning to continue with her journey to read and write. There was no looking back after this.
After a year, she was standing for the press release of her own autobiography written in Bengali titled,’ Ekta Bhinno Jibon'( A Life Beyond The Ordinary’), with the help of Professor Shyam Kumar. He showed her that her journey with books could never end. The doll is The Phoenix Writer.
Note: This story is based on the real-life incidents surrounding the life of Baby Halder, a maid who turned her dream into reality with the help of Munshi Premchand’s grandson Professor Prabod Kumar, who lives in DLF city Gurgaon. She published her autobiography titled ” Alo Aandhari”( Light and Darkness). She still continues to work at the eminent professor’s house.
Source: betterindia.com
