First woman coolie

If you ever go down to Jaipur railway station, try and see if you can locate Manju. A 33- year old widow, mother of three children, she is Rajasthan’s first woman coolie. With a coolie number tag of 15, maybe we will never be able to ask a woman to carry our burden but she does this for a living. Her husband was a coolie, with the same tag and after he passed away, she took over his work.

With no employment opportunities in her village and farms not enough to support her family, she decided to become a coolie. Naturally, she cannot carry as much burden as a man and people also, thankfully, respectfully, ask her to carry their lightweight bags. The male coolies support her and lookout for her, protecting her from unwanted attention. They advice her about the various ways to approach the train when it comes into the station and also pass on clients. They feel responsible for her and she in turn says that she feels safe. She works from 5 pm to 9 pm; some days she makes Rs.50, some days Rs.100 and some days nothing at all.

If she approaches you at the Jaipur, you could get taken aback. But once you get over that, give her something to carry. She is respectfully earning a living and if we can help in any way we can, it would be our good deed for the day. In today’s time when women all over India are feeling unsafe, this story truly warms the heart.