2nd sister among 7 siblings, I lived in Kulpi (2 hours by train from Kolkata) and grew up in abject poverty as my father owned a local grocery store and died of tuberculosis when I was 12 years old. Having dropped out of school for financial reasons, I and my sister were appointed a teacher to be taught Bangla so that we could write our names.
I eloped with Hrishikesh (our teacher then and my husband now) at the age of 14 because we knew our marriage wouldn’t be accepted by my family. His aunts got us married at the Kali temple of Kalighat in Kolkata. I gave birth to my first son at the age of 15. With my husband losing his job because of some illness, we couldn’t afford to keep our son well and eventually, he died. We would go back to our native village occasionally before finally settling down in Kolkata in 1985. We took refuge in an ashram where my son Suman was born 2 years later. My husband had started working as a promoter by then.
I didn’t take any risk this time and focused on building my career so that we could provide our son a good and healthy life. I learned facial from a parlor when Suman was 2 years old and worked there for another 2 years. My husband had become a masseur by then along with learning a lot of other skills like that of an electrician. It’s he who helped me learn how to give massage to a person and together we started working as professional masseurs. We eventually bought our own flat. I started with charging Rs. 60 per session, visiting clients at their homes. Now I charge Rs. 130 per session which is a lot less than the actual rate. I also offer facial at home and charge Rs. 120 per session. My clients are happy and I got more thanks to their references. I used to earn around Rs. 12000 but now I have reduced my work-load because of my age and I currently earn Rs. 8000. My son has also grown up and teaches at a school.