Brinda Barui is the only woman of her kind in the neighbourhood. At the crack of dawn every day, she grabs the keys to her tractor and sets off to work on the fields.

The 40-year-old unlettered woman, whose husband is a day labourer, is an example for her village Kalibari, about 15km from the North Dinajpur subdivisional town of Islampur.

Brinda works in farms in the neighbourhood with her tractor, provides for her family and inspires other women near her to take a big, bold step.

The idea to work with a tractor came to her eight years ago when her family was staring at crushing poverty.

Brinda came to know from a local youth, who had bought a tractor, that the manufacturers were providing loans to the buyers. A tractor had been hired by farmers in the area. If men could drive it, why couldn't she?

That is what she did.

Handing over the two bighas of land that she and her husband owned, she bought the tractor.

Since then, she has been driving her tractor from one field to another, in her village and in the neighbourhood, to plough the land before the seeds are sown. She also uses the tractor to transport harvested crop to godowns or cold storage facilities.

Brinda is often asked how a woman could handle something as formidable as a tractor. She grins mischievously and tries to answer: "My parents live near Balurghat in South Dinajpur. When I was a teenager, I used to pester my elder brother, who owned a tractor, to let me drive it. Slowly, I learnt to drive the tractor. Now, I am quite at ease behind the wheel and I can negotiate any tricky terrain."

Brinda points to their one acre land, a part of which has their house.

"My husband Tapas was working too hard as a daily labourer and his health was failing. The little that we grew on our land was not enough. I decided to take matters in my hands and bought the tractor," Brinda said.

She said her husband works on their land as well.

Brinda said the tractor had made life much easier for her.

"After repayment of the monthly instalments for the tractor, we have around Rs 15,000 left for the family. I have also bought two machines, to thresh paddy and corn, that I hire out. I have married off my eldest daughter. My other daughter studies in Class IX. My two sons are in Classes VIII and V," she says.

The tractor came for around Rs 8 lakh and the loan was for 10 years.

Brinda is a role model for women around her.

But no one else in the village has bought a tractor yet. They have opted for machines to thresh paddy and corn.

"I have bought a threshing machine and during breaks from household work and looking after my children, I work the machine for extra money," says Rajani Adhikary, one of Brinda's neighbours. "Brinda is an inspiration to us all."

Brinda's efforts have not gone unrecognised. This year, she was felicitated at the North Bengal Veterans' Sports Meet held in Islampur on March 8, which is celebrated as International Women's Day.

"On this occasion, we chose to felicitate Brinda Barui among others. She has set an example for us all by overcoming social taboos. She is a role model for all of us to follow," said the president of Islampur Masters' Veterans' Players' Association, Kanhaialal Agarwal.

The organisation had held the meet.

The tractor manufacturers promote her as their ideal buyer at their events in the village and even outside the state.