rajani-work

1 July 2020

My name is Rajani Ajan Raj. I am now 32 years old. I work as a mobile vegetable vendor, taking my wares from house to house on my TVS scooter. You can see how I have stacked my scooter on all sides with various packets. During these days of COVID-19, I take every precaution and wrap myself up with facemask, gloves, shoes and a coat. With my helmet also on, you can barely see my face! I am careful not to go too near my customers and do not enter anybody’s premises. All my sales are carried out on the road.

My day starts at 3.30 am when I get up to prepare breakfast and lunch for my sons who are 12 and 8. We live at Cheenivila in Malayankil in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. This is a new house in 5 cents of land which we completed about eight months back. My husband Ajan Raj is presently in Dubai. Though my sons’ schools are closed due to the COVID situation, they attend online classes in the TV for which I took cable connection last week. I drink just a glass of water before leaving the house at 5 o’clock. My sons get up to see me off and they tell me, “Amma, go slowly!”

I head straight to Chalai market to buy vegetables. I source cheera (spinach), payar (long beans) and pavakka (bitter gourd) from farmlands at Venganoor, which I do the day before. All other vegetables like carrot, beans, yam, cucumber, drumstick, beetroot, chillis and so on are from Chalai and I try to get locally grown varieties. By 7 o’clock, I would reach Poojappura and start my rounds into different locales within this core area. Though my voice is feeble, people come out when they hear me shout “pachakari (vegetables!)” near their houses. My regular customers would anyway be on the lookout as I keep a roster of the days I go to each region.

How did I end up on this path? It is a long story. I grew up in Kattakada, the elder of two sisters. Growing up, I loved dancing and performed in our church functions. My father was a construction worker and mother worked in a tea shop. Even while at school, I used to carry sand and gravel on holidays at a quarry near my house to supplement the meager family income. My mother suffers from asthma. There were times when we struggled to rush her for injections and this made me wish to become a nurse. I joined a nursing diploma course and did rubber tapping to pay my fees. But then, at the age of 19, I got married. It was a love marriage, and due to a particular situation, I had to leave home and get married without the consent of my parents.

Those were tough days. However, due to the support of my husband and insistence of a teacher, I managed to complete my nursing studies and even worked in a few private hospitals for about eight years. My husband worked as a labourer and got a chance to go to Muscat in the Gulf. But alas, all our Gulf dreams soon turned into nightmares. Due to medical and wok related issues, he had to return. He went again but met with a gruesome accident that broke his leg. He was brought back with great difficulty, but it was five surgeries, many mishaps and 34 months before he walked again. I had to care for him with two small kids to boot. It was out of the question to go out to work and I gave up my nursing job. I started to buy raw chakka (jackfruit) from the neighborhood, cut into small pieces for chips and sell. I would then give the waste parts as cattle fodder and get milk in return. We had to depend a lot on our neighbours. Those were times when I could not afford to buy even a 5-rupee biscuit packet for my kids.

It was a well-wisher who suggested the vegetable business. We got some cheera/payar/pavakka locally and tried to sell, with myself walking and my husband going in another direction on the scooter. It takes time to win the trust of people. One day when nothing could be sold even by 3 o’clock, I was ready to give it up for good – but then, like a miracle, all my bundles of cheera were sold off in half an hour! It was like a turning on the road. I have not looked back after that.

Now I do not wish to go back to my nursing career – I am happy doing vegetable vending. I make a small profit and am able take care of my children as well as pay the installments to repay our debts. We could also finish our house – though my father and sister also helped. You should see it – it is a beautiful house.

My husband went to Gulf again this January on his fifth attempt. But the COVID situation has meant no jobs. My immediate goal now is to make the Rs 30,000 necessary for him to be able to come back. All that his Gulf trips ever gave us are huge debts! I am determined that there will be no more!

COVID has not created any dent in my sales. I skipped only a single day of sale even in the thick of lock-downs. It makes me happy that I could reach vegetables to my elderly house-bound customers. My rounds have also brought me love – many of my customers talk to me, ask about my well-being, and there are even some who keep pazhamkanji (rice gruel) ready for me! But I am wary of drinking too much water since I do not go to the toilet till I reach back home.

I finish my rounds for the day by 1.30pm. If any of my 80 cheera bundles are left, I may linger for a while until they are all sold off. Then I go straight to the farms at Venganoor and it takes me more than an hour to reach there. I pick up the cheera and other vegetables for the next day and reach home by 3pm. Straightaway I wash, change clothes and then sit down to my lunch of rice and curries. My sons sometimes wait up for me. Then it is time to clean the cheera, cut and tie into bundles for the next day. I finish that by 5pm and then immerse myself in the household chores – cleaning, giving my sons baths and so on. In between I go and see my parents – at least every alternate day. I take a bath there and my mother gives me a cup of tea. That is something I always look forward to. Yes, it is I who give my mother her injections now.

After coming back, I make dinner – perhaps dosa. In addition to TV, we have a gas stove, mixer and fridge. My sons watch cartoon shows. But what we enjoy most is a CD of our family photographs – I do not know how many times I have watched it with my sons. By 11, it is prayers and then bed time. I take a day off from work on Sundays.

What are my wishes today? – that my husband comes back from Gulf and that our children get educated, never harm anyone and earn the respect of others. I also wish that we live without ever depending on anyone else.

There have been a few occasions when my husband and I seriously considered suicide. But those days are over. Yes, we do have huge debts from the house construction, Gulf trips and the long medical treatment. But now I am determined that we will not only live but thrive. Our house is named ‘Happy home’, and I tell you it is indeed that. My small family is in this journey together and yes, we are happy.

Written By: Jaya G Nair
Email: jaya.gn@gmail.com