As the Falcon
Flies
Introduction
I was only 5
when I was given away to the temple nearby, I was born in West Bengal to poor
parents, they couldn’t afford me and apart from that there was a tradition of
giving young daughters away. For days
the Sun didn’t shine or maybe I never saw it, too depressed to think or see
anything, I was crying when the priest found me, “Why don’t you come inside?”
he said kindly and softly and I dragged myself up from the footsteps of the
temple and walked with my hand in his, told him about my Mom and Dad.
Life in the temple was a routine, early morning
chores, followed by work, from cleaning utensils, the temple compound, serving
the priest and other folks in the temple lunch, busy till the end of the
night. Slowly but surely I got into this
routine thinking to myself, “Maybe this was what life was supposed to be for
me,” my mind snapped back at me, it always did nowadays, understand, that when
one is hurt and battered, its easy to fall into a peaceful routine that doesn’t
allow thinking.
Before I knew it,
10 years had passed, and one sunny day, the priest called me, “Don’t you want
to go to a big town?” he said with the same smile on his face, softly spoken
words and I instantly trusted him, I rushed inside to the waiting room where
this cruel looking man waited expectantly.
My first reaction was to cringe inwardly, but the priest pushed me
towards him, “He is here to take you to your first job in Bombay,” and the man
smiled for the first time, it was a wicked smile, was there something happening
here that I didn’t know about, it was the beginning of a journey that never
seemed to end, for the next 10 years I was in Mumbai caught up in the
prostitution racket, from one seedy room to another, life just seemed to have
become what was akin to a nightmare brought on by religion.
I fear to think what would happen if tomorrow never came.
The Road Map to Freedom
My current focus group is the Mansura Moll and
Click on the link if you
care.
These woman are
hardworking souls having seen worst nightmares in their lives, but that is the
past which should remain a mystery to the curious, we must find a way forward
for them.
This group is special because they need Rs 12,800
for a Solar Project for their homes, its not just their homes that need
electricity for manual labour but also because they have to earn a living from
their houses and without electricity there is nothing.
I had worked out the economics for Solar Projects
long while back and knew that it worked especially for the Lower Income
Group, I was ideally placed today to
provide guidance to these women, what to buy, what to look for when it comes to
equipment and its installation.
One of the more interesting projects I had been
involved with was the “Create a Solar Entrepreneur” project which could now be
carried Pan-India, it involved generating incomes upto Rs 50,000 per month by
simply putting up solar panels on the terrace, after all for every kiosk there is a
battery and every battery requires charging.
But more on that later, when the time is right, today I am here to tell
you a tale which adequately demonstrates why these people need to borrow money
from you.
We
don’t ask for donations, we ask you to Lend
