Neelam Rajput: A Curator of a Shattered Life

 

Neelam was born and brought up in Narayana village of West Delhi. But over the past three decades that place has turned to be an industrial suburb of Delhi. She is a Rajput or Kshatriya of Rajasthan who occupy the highest strata in the society. When she was barely of 7 months old, her mother expired. It’s only a mother who can breastfeed her baby. Upbringing a baby is a herculean task. Neelam’s father unable to rear his daughter. Because a baby need to be feed at the interval of every four to six hours; nappy pads need to be changed every hour and she need to be sponged every other hour. Even though they had relatives, but her father asked his tenant to look after his little heart, so as every day when he returns from work he can have a close look at his heart.

            

The tenant lady herself was childless hence she reared Neelam with utmost love and care, as if a mother. Only when Neelam turned 14 or 15 years old, then only she got to know the lady who was rearing her since childhood is not her mother. But Neelam was not shocked, because she never felt the absence of a mother. For her that lady was an angel, much more than a mother.

Later her father married to another lady who was a Bengali. Though the new mother came, but she did not look after Neelam. His father sent Neelam to her uncles place. Over there Neelam faced all the vagaries and torture as they show in the Hindi television serials. Her Chachi(paternal aunt) treated Neelam as a servant. Every morning her aunt was asking Neelam to wash two buckets of dirty cloths. At noon when Neelam was returning from school her aunt was dumping a pile of utensils to clean. Only on completing that task her Chachi was serving food to Neelam. As a result Neelam was malnourished during her growing-up age.  

When Neelam’s father expired, her step mother occupied the house, because by then she got their house registered in her name.    

Let whatever the setbacks in her personal life, Neelam was a playful girl during her school days. She happened to be very jubilant. She was a chirping bird, all the time gossiping with her batch mates in the school. Despite facing hurdles every hour she keeps on breathing. Looking at her batch mates who were living a happy and cool life, couple of times Neelam even thought of committing suicide. But she always entertained the positive vibes in her mind, while suppressing the negative thoughts. Instead of planning and setting any goals for her life, she was just paying attention on each individual day. Though every night she was sleeping with body aches and a heavy heart, but next morning she was waking with the positive vibes of the glowing sun.   

  

Neelam happened to be a playful kid in the school. Seldom were any of her friends envious with Neelam. She was a chirping bird in the class room. She was always doing chatter-patter with other girls. Because of that habit once she was even summoned before the Head Mistress and got scolding. Irrespective of the batch all the children of her school were playing with her. She passed 10^th in the year 1994, but due to several hurdles in her family she could not study further. On passing 10^th class at such a young age she got married by observing the local norms early marriage of girl child. She married to a person who was operating trucks in Agrawal Mandi, Dist. Bagpath in Uttar Pradesh. By the year 2000 she got blessed with a daughter. In the year 2004 in their village(Uttar Pradesh) she joined a pre-primary private school as a teacher at a monthly salary of 900 INR. While observing the norms of Uttar Pradesh by covering her face under the veil of the saree, she started going to teach in the school.  While teaching children she realised the need to have the 12^th certificate. She thought when her own children will grow up and for admission at college in the application form she have to write her name with the qualification. After a gap of as many as 10 years of passing 10^th she appeared for 12^th exams. Those long ten years were stretched as if 100 years, because of all the troubles that she has encountered in life.

One need to realise the children are nothing but the outcome of their parents. On the one hand it is the father who earns money and makes the provision for food, shelter and clothing, but it is only the mother who nourish the children with love and care. On the absence of either of the two, there is an imbalance in the life of the children. Whereas our girl Neelam had lost the shelter of both father and mother. So you can judge when the artist is neither the father nor the mother, how imperfect would be the sculpture.

Neelam’s  husband was operating trucks. The nature of his vocation was such, when he was going on work to different parts of India he had to remain out of city for a minimum of one week to 15 days at a stretch. In the year 2004 while her husband was traveling to Bihar one night his truck met with a massive accident. The driver as well as the helper both expired on the spot, but Neelam’s husband survived because he was sleeping on the back sheet of the driver.

On passing out BA she did double MA in English and History from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Merrut. Then she did Bachelor in Education(B.Ed) from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

Because of the travelling vocation her husband fell sick with tuberculosis(TB). He no more able to drive his trucks. Neelam started giving private tutorials. As on this date she is teaching as many as 35 kids of primary school. In the year 2013 she came across an advertising in the newspaper about a job vacancy in the Sulabh International Museum of Toilet, Dabri, New Delhi. She applied for the position of a caretaker of that museum and she got recruited. With this job she got a new mission of her life.

Neelam is an example of indomitable courage. Despite facing the towering difficulties she able to survive and set herself as an example to lakhs of women who are victims of female atrocity in India.

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