- A 50-year-old woman boards a train at Bongaon, in North 24-Parganas, at 4.15am. She gets off at Dum Dum station and goes around the city selling sweets to earn a living. This is Susama Mondal’s routine for all 365 days of the year, irrespective of what the weather has in store.
- Najma Khatun works in brick kilns. When there is no work in kilns, the 21-year-old, who has a three-year-old to take care of, works in the city as help.
Stories of the struggle of women and children are being brought to the forefront by a Bengali television actress through her YouTube channel.
Poushmita Goswami has selected marginalised people, mostly women, and is trying to create awareness in society about their struggle so that others can reach out to them to help them in their fight.
“There are many people around us who lead a difficult life. If we acknowledge their presence and struggles and try to improve their lives, in whichever small way, it will help make a difference to them,” said Goswami.
The actress tells their stories in small videos of 15 to 20 minutes that she uploads on her YouTube channel. Susama Mondal’s struggle began 12 years back, when she realised that her husband’s income as a tractor driver was not enough to run the family.
“My son was in school and I decided to earn to give him and ourselves a better life. I can do that so long I can,” said Mondal.
“I do not want anything for myself. I want my son to be self-reliant.”
On many occasions during the monsoon, Mondal gets drenched while trying to sell sweets.
“But my target is to sell all that I carry,” she said. Goswami said that if people came forward and occasionally bought sweets from her, it would help Mondal immensely.
“Instead of taking 10 hours to sell the sweets she carries, she might do that in 6 hours,” said Goswami. For Najma, who works in brick kilns, there is barely any work during the monsoon. She started working in brick kilns when she was 12. “We are eight siblings and it is difficult for our parents to afford the education of so many,” she said.
“When there is no work we come to the city and work as domestic help.”
“Every day is a struggle for these women. The least we can do is try to stand by them and try to mainstream them,” said Goswami.