The Day I Met Mala

Soumi is working in the banking sector for five years. She always tries hard to strike balance between her professional and personal life. She knows to be a working woman it becomes impossible for her to do her best as a daughter-in-law and as a mother and somewhere in her mind, she felt guilty for that.

Though she always tries her best to contribute to her family yet she always gets accused of doing nothing at all. Even sometimes she has also heard them say that nowadays working women are just too self-centric to take care of their in-laws and children. A few of her near and dear ones has also advised her to leave her job so that she can please her family. But, as an independent woman, it never becomes possible for her to leave her job.

Instead of such confusion, once she decided to leave her job so that the family issues get sorted and she can spend a peaceful life. When she started writing the resignation letter the concerns and tensed faces of her parents during her exam days and results days literally haunts her. She feels like she is doing injustice with the efforts, dreams, and concerns of her parents who raised her into an independent woman. But, amidst the strong mental dilemma, she finds herself so weak and helpless. She doesn’t even get the mental support from the man who considered her as his most suitable match for being independent in nature. Suddenly, she finds herself all alone in a grotesque war with society. Though her child was never complaining about not having his mother’s 24×7 presence around him yet Soumi understands that nowadays her child is also getting venomous preaching from others.

Among all these things, Soumi gets ready for her resignation. She feels in a certain situation a woman becomes so measurably alone that pleasing everybody takes over her choice to earn self-respect and self- independence. During her last day at the office, she comes across Mala. Mala is a leader of a women self-help group from a remote village. Soumi knows Mala for years just as another customer but on that day she got a chance to have a short conversation with her. Mala’s father used to work in another’s agricultural field for very low wages. That compels her to get married off in the age of fourteen and that was also a reason for her to be a school dropout. Being completely capable of taking care of her in-laws and husband never proved to be extra beneficial for Mala. Even the physical humiliation, mental abuse, demand of dowry, and a son were among some little desires that get increased day by day. After some time she got browned off those things and decided to live her independent life with her only daughter. From then she worked in various odd jobs and finally lands into this position. Now she not only runs her life independently but also helps such other girls who have gone through a similar situation.

Soumi finds a strong and determined village women, who is helping her to resurrect the lost hope and strength to fight back. At 7 PM when Soumi was returning to her home that day the resignation letter that was written by her yesterday, with so much dilemma, was in the office garbage bin. A working woman graduated into self-independent women all of a sudden on that day.