Life of Bina

Sudharsana Jain

Pune

Bina Chhetri always greets everyone with a smile on her face. She never let anyone see through her pain. Born in a small village in Darjeeling, Bina Chhetri is calm when she narrates her tumultuous past. She currently lives with her son Jyoti Chhetri while her two daughters Babita and Suchita are married. 

As a child, Bina’s parents restricted her from going to school and asked her to stay at home and help with all the house chores. But one day there was a ray of hope. Her parents allowed her to attend school and she was admitted to 2nd standard when her younger sister was in 4th standard. Children made fun of her. The school was suffocating and she stopped attending school after a month of her admission.

She never felt happy living with her parents as they always treated her as a maid, she says. Her relationship with her parents was strained for some reasons. “They never let me wear nice clothes when my sister got to wear pretty dresses. At the age of 14, I was married off to a rich man. I thought that there will be some peace and happiness. My husband treated me well and we were blessed with three children” she says. Bina was 30 and by the time her husband died if ailment. Then started series of challenges.    

The aftermath   

At this point in life, she and her children were struggling even to arrange meals. She was always under constant stress on how to manage the next day’s food. She started working as a coolie in a railway station. She never missed the day even in harsh weather to earn a little extra money for her children. Sometimes she also went to work as a labourer to break stones.

With hard work, life started getting a little better. She admitted her children into the school. She also worked as a housemaid to support the family.

But despite all the hard work, she earned Rs 30 per month (it was in the year 1982). But then came another major challenge. Her son got infected with polio. With no support and proper income, she was struggling to treat him. It was disheartening for her to see a crippled son. Even after those hardships, she took him to a private hospital for better treatment. Doctors said he would be able to walk again but the treatment and the medicines would cost heavy. She sold utensils in-house to support the treatment.

After a few months, her son started getting better and could walk and was no longer dependent. Meanwhile she got a job as a nurse in a local hospital at a salary of Rs 525 per month.  But she was transferred to Takdah and had to leave her children behind. She visited them once a week as they continued their education. 

Today her son and elder daughter were married and her friends convinced her that she should remarry. She agreed and married a man who was jobless. He was a violent person and always doubted her. He beat her mercilessly, followed her to her job and used to keep an eye on her. He created a lot of problems for her and made life horrible. He died of a disease.    

“All those years were indeed difficult but one thing I learned is that you should never lose hope. Just keep on working hard and one day God will hear your prayers. Today I am living a happy life with my son and daughter-in-law and my grandchildren. My daughters are earning well and feeding their families. After a long journey filled with difficulties it’s finally time for me to retire from all the hardships and stress of life and just enjoy my old age” she says with a smile on her face.