Kolkata: Sonali Ghosh is breaking stereotypes on the streets of Kolkata. The 28-year-old has been pulling a cycle rickshaw in Kasba area of South Kolkata since 2013.
Sonali manages to ferry one passenger and sometimes even two. After the demise of her father, she decided become the breadearner of her family, taking out her father’s cycle rickshaw in a male dominated profession.
She earns Rs 100 a day on average while ferrying passengers. For additional income she works as maid in three households while also selling corn or ‘bhutta’ in the summer months.
Apart from ferrying passengers, she also works as a maid in three households and also sells bhutta (corn) during summer.
On speaking about her struggles, Sonali said, “My father could not educate me well and I had no option but to pull a rickshaw to earn a livelihood. I do work as a maid in households, but that does not fetch me enough money to run my household."
This is what a day in Sonali’s life looks like
She starts her day by working in households from 6:00am to 9:00am.
After an hour’s break to freshen up and cook, she heads out in her rickshaw to the Siddhartha Shankar Park, a few blocks away to sell corn till 2:00pm.
She then returns home to rest and eat. Sonali again ventures out from 5:00pm to 11:00pm to ferry passengers with a dinner break in between.
Sonali lives with her mother and has no plans to marry. Her mother who has been unwell with Hepatitis B since 2016 is her main concern.
Apart from work, she unwinds watching movies on TV in her one room shanty in the bylanes of Kasba.
Over the years the people in her locality encouraged Sonali who ferries school students, parents and office goers. “People of the locality and passengers tell me to keep up the good work."