One of the one percent in 13 million.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Young folks have dreams. Dreaming that someday, somewhere, some sort of career awaits.

But at age 18, Reshma is already making a living, working in five Delhi households as an all-rounder. Sweeping. Dusting. Washing up. Precisely what a household maid does.

The Delhi Walla meets her the other day with energetic Reshma, washing dishes in a modern high-rise in Ghaziabad. Hers is a busy life and, to put it in record, “I always wanted to live in a city.”

She grew up in a Bihar village where Dad is a tailor, as well as her two brothers. “I never went to school, but when my didi (sister) last year talked about her work in Delhi I decided to give the big town a try.”

Didi is also household help, so it seemed natural that Reshma would join her in a one-room slum dwelling nearby, that is additionally shared with her Jeeju, the brother-in-law. He’s a rickshaw puller. Both sisters rise before dawn and settle into roti and subzi before heading out into the world. They return home in late afternoon, only to head out again for evening shifts.

The family of three may not see much of each other as often as they’d like but late in the evening, they do sit together in front of TV.

Reshma’s favorite soap is Ishq Meini Marjawan, with Tara as her favroite character, she tells me, as she wipes the very last drops from washed steel thalis.

[This is the 139th portrait of Mission Delhi project]

Her city dreams

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