Sangeeta
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– WINSTON CHURCHILL
Sangeeta is a tigress. She’s always been one. A wild, impulsive, aggressive tigress who’ll fight anyone, anywhere, no matter what, if it comes to protecting the ones she holds dear. I remember this one time when we were in a train going from Delhi to Ahmedabad for a training event when Sangeeta went with us as part of the Maitri Meals team. We had reserved tickets but due to some confusion another passenger kept insisting that the seat where we sat was his. We tried to explain the situation to him calmly but Sangeeta realised that a calm approach isn’t working, she pounced on the man with her words and made sure that we got our seats back even if it gets ugly. We all kept trying to pacify Sangeeta later, kept trying to talk patience into her, kept trying to tell alternative ways of handling conflict, but Sangeeta had her mind set on her ways.
Last year during the pandemic, when she was offered a role in the field team, she promptly declined saying, “mujhse nahi hoga alag alag kothe me jana. Main itne logon se deal nahi kar sakti”. We still pushed her and she continued a small partial engagement on field. When she was in Maitri Meals earlier, our alternative livelihood culinary project, she was affectionately called ‘chhoti manager’ because of how she completely owned all the work and went the extra mile in every work. The seeds of different work ethics and values planted then continued to blossom in Sangeeta and despite all her fears, she took ownership of all field work as well and went above and beyond to reach out to other women at GB Road. Her full-time engagement was at HeARTshala, another alternative livelihood stitching project started in the lockdown last year, but she would still always lend a supporting hand whenever the field was in need. Through many disagreements, many fights, many back and forths, Sangeeta continued her field engagement and continued to slowly immerse herself in the service of her fellow community members.
It’s now been one year of direct field engagement along with other skilling and deep inner work, and the trajectory of Sangeeta’s growth brings tears to my eyes. Not only now does she visit all the different brothels of Gb Road, but visits them with a deep intention of service. That very space where she was sold, that very space where she was abused and violated, that very road that has cast a dark shadow on her life is now a community that she is willing to serve. Sangeeta herself often tells me with a smile on her face how she is surprised that while she gets angry at other people, reacts impatiently with her family and sometimes even our team members, but when she’s on field she knows that the women there are people she wants to support no matter how bad the conflict is. Recently in one of our LPG drives when the crowd got out of hand and things were a little mismanaged, Sangeeta was surrounded by a group of angry women blaming her for the chaos and asking accusatory questions. The old volatile Sangeeta would’ve met this crowd with equally hurtful comebacks and aggressive dissociation, but the Sangeeta we witnessed that day was calm and poised. She listened to everyone, reassured them with a smile and continued to do her work as best as she could, knowing that outer remarks don’t matter and her faith lies in her service. “Main khud hairan thi ki kaise itna tension jhel liya bina dare, bina chillaye” was her reflection on that day. Perhaps this is how we’re creating change, one Sangeeta at a time, one surprise at a time.
