T A Kamala - My maternal grand aunt. I have grown up listening to her stories of how they caught forgery cases at the bank she worked and retired out of. I sort of imagined her like Sherlock Holmes trying to identify frauds and fakes. Sitting in the cabin, inspecting cheques and calling out and chasing and catching those who tried to pull a fast one on the bank! As I grew up, I realized it was not all that dramatic as it was in my head, however, the stories still showed me how attentive she had to be to get these detected. To me, she is a hero. In more ways than just these instances. I have always said that my family has so many women who have helped me shape who I have become. She is one of them. She probably does not know this (yet)! I never grew up thinking women don't work at offices. I never felt women were not as capable as men.
Many women in my family were working women. And even those women who stayed back home to raise a family were extremely resourceful and ran a one-income household with better precision than any corporation. Okay, back to Kamalu(as I fondly address her). She would get ready in a crisp, well-draped sari, swing her handbag on her shoulder off to work. Until recently, I had not thought of how powerful these instances are for a girl growing up. We yearn to become people we look around us. She had me all geared up to have a career without even saying a single word. Actions, after all, speak louder than words, right?
She retired and took up teaching kids in her locality who were not as fortunate to get tuitions. She cared for her 90+ mother with so much love and even wrote about how it is to take care of a parent. She showed us it is okay to get frustrated, she showed you can get tired and exhausted. She showed that you can feel all that and yet be strong and carry your family through. She gets excited about little things in life, like the success of her Rava Idli attempts and a new recipe she had discovered. She teaches a lot about life and how to live it without ever preaching about it. This is one person who is successful, independent, and smart and one of the women who inspire me.
Until next time, Happy Reading!
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Sundari.