She's not heard of International Domestic Workers' Day, celebrated by International Labour Organization (ILO) on June 16, but she's one herself.
An orphan from a poor Simdega home, she's had her bad breaks. But, she's on a good run now as a full-time maid with a doctor couple in Kanke, Ranchi, who want her to study, breaking the myth that Jharkhand's maidservants are doomed without a future.
It takes a while to break the ice. "I'm 18," she lies initially. "No, I am 16," she confessed.
Life changed for this girl from Bano block, Simdega, four years ago when she lost her parents. The youngest of five sisters, she moved in with one of her married sisters in Kanke.
"I couldn't study beyond Class IX as my jijaji looked at me as a burden."
Scared that her sister's marriage would suffer, she volunteered to work. One of her jijaji's friends, who worked as a driver in Delhi, recommended her to his boss.
"Last year, in August, I went to Delhi's Shahdara. No one behaved badly, but work was unending," she grimaced. "After housework, the Delhi madam made me do her boutique work. I stitched buttons, removed leftover threads from clothes for hours. No rest," she said.
By January, lack of sleep had taken its toll. "They paid me Rs 6,000 but I don't remember a single waking hour when I did not work."
She boarded a train in desperation, escaping what many of her Jharkhand sisters undergo in Delhi, from domestic torture to sexual abuse.
At least 10,000 girls, usually tribal minors, are trafficked every year from the state to different parts of the country, especially Delhi, claim NGOs.
Back in Kanke, a neighbour told her about this doctor couple whose only son stays abroad.
"My luck changed," she said, getting emotional for the first time. "In Delhi, I worked, I never told anyone I was an orphan fearing exploitation, I was never free to relax, forget studies. Here, sir and madam treat me like a daughter."
When they heard she wanted to study, the lady of the house started tutoring her.
"I will study up to plus two and do a course or study further depending on how I perform," she said confidently. " Kuch banna hai (Have to be someone)," she asserted.
Her employers added they know she is 16. "But, as an orphan she needs our support. If not here, she'll work elsewhere and may get exploited. Here, she is safe and can learn while she earns. We will enrol her in National Open School. Can't we be accepted as her foster parents?" her 'madam' said.
