Education for me is..

Mandodari and Shindu (From right to left)

Kalpana

It is a hot summer afternoon. Frequent power cuts have made life in the small village of Ankurli in Solapur quite unbearable. Exams are over for POSE students but some women from this center meet up again under the tree in Kalpana’s verandah to cool off and share their experiences over the past year.

Kalpana is in her late 20s while Mandodari and Shindu are proud grandparents. The common factor that brought them together was their time at POSE. Today the discussion is not about the issues at home or some gossip about that girl who is still unmarried. These women, quite unknowingly slipped into a debate about what will education mean to them in the future. Mandodari is an Asha Sevika and hopes to retire in a few years. Kalpana has been coaxing her to enroll in a college with her but Mandodari is content with her role of helping out with her grandchildren at home. She believes that she got this opportunity to study and now she wants to devote her time in taking lessons at home. Shindu has been unusually quiet today. Her days at Anganwadi have been a bit tough with all the POSE classes and coping up with exams. She is constantly at war in her marital home. Her whereabouts during classes were questioned by her neighbors and in-laws. Her husband kept asking her to stop this ‘education business’. But in her mind she is sure about studying further and graduating. Her dream of becoming a college teacher has been mocked by many. She says, “There must be a reason that our village was included in the list for POSE centers. I will take that as my cue and make the most of it.”

Kalpana has been brimming with energy. “My son’s teachers told me that he is doing exceptionally well in Math now. He told his teachers that I inspired him when I relentlessly struggled to get my lessons right and now he wants to do the same,” she said. Education has made her the pride of her household.

Shindu was always the accepting one. But today she has voiced her opinion and demands for an opportunity to continue studying till she is alive. She enjoyed taking care of her children and grandchildren but now she enjoys something more. She likes the feel of books in her hands. She likes the challenge of sitting through an examination. “I am happy working at the Anganwadi”, she says. “I don’t know why I want to study more. But I just want to”.

For some education is a luxury provided by their parents or in-laws in some cases, some hope to turn their lives around and fight their past while some look at it as a beginning of a whole new chapter that can lead to infinite possibilities. Their future is undecided but for now they have managed to initiate a cycle of change that may mean hope and progress for the entire community.