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| Saraswati Jana with her twin daughters Rumki and Jhumki, along with her husband Arun, at their Garia home. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha |
Saraswati Jana never made it through school. After her father died young, she and her two sisters had to forget about their books and help their mother bring home the daily bread.
During that struggle for survival, Saraswati made a quiet promise to herself: that her children must never sacrifice their studies at any cost. Saraswati has kept that promise, and how.
She’s worked as a domestic help, wiping floors and washing utensils, to put her three daughters through school and even college. She’s taught them to dream of a future she herself was denied.
“I was adamant that no matter how much I would have to struggle I would make sure that my daughters were educated,” says Saraswati.
This determination earned her the Abhirup Bhadra Memorial “Thank You Baba-Ma” Award at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence on August 30.
The award was instituted in 2002 to salute parents who have helped the flame of learning burn bright against the odds.
“All I ever told my daughters was that I will struggle as long as you make sure that you don’t let me down. So far they haven’t,' smiles Saraswati, sitting in her two-room house in the bylanes of Garia.
“I asked them to work extra hard because if they failed it would be difficult for me to pay for an extra year of studies. Thankfully, they have never failed,” she adds.
Mohua, the eldest daughter of Saraswati and husband Arun, graduated with Bengali (pass) from Basanti Devi College and is now married. She lives not far from her parents’ place.
Twins Rumki and Jhumki are doing their education honours (IInd year) from Basanti Devi College. Both the girls want to become teachers.
Saraswati became a mother at age 19, when she was earning Rs 500 a month working as a domestic help.
Now Saraswati (who works as an ayah in Our Lady Queen of the Missions School in Salt Lake) and Arun (who does odd jobs for an advertising company), manage to bring home Rs 5,500 a month.
Even in times when the two struggle to make ends meet, Saraswati turns a deaf ear to suggestions from her daughters that they give up their studies and seek employment to boost the family income.
“We give tuitions every morning and evening so that our parents no longer have to pay for our daily expenses. We hope we will be able to finish our studies and start working soon so that our mother can get some rest,” says Jhumki.
Rumki and Jhumki walk about three kilometres to the Garia station every day to take the train to Ballygunge and then walk to college.
Saraswati walks the same distance at 6am to get to her school. Neither the mother nor the daughters want to waste money on an auto ride.
Every rupee saved goes into the education fund for the daughters. But that is not enough.
“Both my daughters want to learn computers and though I know it would help them in the long run I cannot afford it,” rues Saraswati.
