As Savitri's childhood progressed, her responsibilities in life gradually increased. Village girls get used to work from a young age. More work than play, and more care for the house than herself.
The morning was still dark. The crowing of roosters and the distant ringing of bullock bells could be heard. Just then, her mother's voice would come.
"Savi, wake up. There is a lot of work today."
Savitri would wake up rubbing her eyes. Even though she was not yet fully asleep, she would not say anything. Because everyone in the house was working.
Mother would already light the stove and bake bread. The smoke from the stove and the aroma of hot bread would fill the house.
"Fill the water first," mother would say.
The water tank was far away in the village. Savitri would go with her friends with a pitcher in her hand. They would walk in the cool morning breeze.
A little laughter, a little talking on the road.
"Savi, did you do your homework at school yesterday?" Lakshmi would ask.
Savitri would say with a smile,
"Oh, I slept through the night. There was a lot of work."
By the time she returned with the jug full, the sun would start to rise.
When she returned home, there would be more work waiting for her. Sweeping the yard, feeding the animals, washing the dishes.
Sometimes a question would come to Savitri's mind —
"Why should only girls do all this?"
But she would keep that question to herself.
In a short time, Bapu would prepare to go to the field.
"Savi, will you come to the field?" he would ask.
Savitri would get ready immediately. She loved going to the field.
The road to the field was dirt. There were fields of crops on both sides. The morning sun would spread gently.
Once she reached the field, work would begin.
Sometimes weeding, sometimes watering, sometimes planting.
Savitri was small, but she helped as much as she could.
"Bapu, do you want to do this?" she would ask.
Bapu would say with a smile,
"Yes. Take it slow, don't rush."
Sometimes he would smear her hands with mud. He would also fill her feet with soil.
But she didn't care.
Because there was a different kind of peace in the field. The sound of birds, the crops swaying in the wind, and the scent of the soil.
When it was afternoon, mother would come to the field with bread and onions.
Everyone would sit on the embankment and eat.
Hot bread, a few vegetables, and sometimes just salt and pepper.
But that meal was satisfying.
"Mom, what are people eating in the city?" Savitri once asked.
Mother laughed.
"What we get is the best for us."
After eating, we would sit in the shade for a while and rest.
But not for long.
Because work would start again.
Even after returning home in the evening, the work would not end.
Dishes, water, animals, and dinner.
Sometimes Savitri would get very tired.
She would ask her mother,
"Mom, don't you ever get tired?"
Her mother would say with a smile,
"Yes, but you have to work for the house."
Savitri gradually began to understand the meaning of that sentence.
The women of the village worked all day. Both in the fields and at home.
But their hard work was not taken into account much.
Once Savitri asked the teacher at school,
"Sir, what should girls do when they grow up?"
The teacher thought for a while and said,
"Whatever you think is right."
That answer confused Savitri a little, but a small seed was planted in her mind.
After that day, she sometimes started thinking —
"What will I do in life?"
But immediately the work would come to mind and thoughts would fall by the wayside.
Her life was simple.
Work in the morning.
Farm in the afternoon.
Home in the evening.
But she was smiling through it all.
Because village girls learn —
Hard work is not a burden.
It is a part of life.
Savitri was still young.
She did not yet know that this hard work would one day become her strength.
While working in the field, while taking care of the house, she was unknowingly becoming stronger.
The soil was sticking to her feet,
and perhaps
to her nature too.
Because that soil taught her —
The harder you work, the stronger you will become.