Women migrants

We have a new attendant from the Centre .Aarti is sick.This lady is middle aged and travels from Joynagar. She catches the morning 5.30 am local train to reach Kolkata. She leaves our place around 7.30 pm in the evening and by the time she is home it is about 10.30 pm. Why does she have to live like this. Simple .She has a partially blind husband who lost one eye to a dacoit’s bullet. The operation cost them huge sums of money and his job at a mill. She had land which was sold off to marry off her three daughters. Her two sons are on their own , married and separated. She has to work to keep the house running. She has no other skill. Working as a daily attendant is the best she can manage with her limited abilities.
Daily hundreds of women travel to Kolkata from suburbs,villages to work as maids , attendants in the city .The men have no work or earn very little. The villages have very little to offer .People give up their lands and roots and become complete or partial migrants. Traditional values are lost in the big bad world. Many women find new partners in this new environment, living dual lives. Economic freedom has changed lives of women in all classes of society. The rules of relationship are changing fast.