Shanti...

Its a lazy afternoon, as I sit chatting with Shanti.

Shanti, at her home I will be staying for around 15 days. I am here to learn a craft, bell metal, as it is popularly known. Her husband, Shabir bhaiya , is a master craftsman in Kondagaon, Bastar.

I arrived here some 4 days ago. A total stranger to them is what I thought I was.
Now sitting with Shanti, listening to her, I wonder if its true. I feel a connection with her, as if I know her feelings and she mine. She talks about her kids, Tareena, her 8 year old daughter and Sahil, her son, just 4 is learning to go to school.

I hear her concerns. Sahil is a difficult child and doesn't like going to the school. She wants Tareena to go to an english medium school, but it is across the road and Tareena will have to walk a long distance to reach it. She tells me she used to work with her husband. She left working so that she can look after her children well.

Shanti says they work so hard, so that their children can have the best in life.

An unknown fear grips me. She is innocent, unaware of the world beyond. A world that is ruled by power and money. Where there is no place for innocent dreams.

And yet I have a trust in a mother's dream. I see in her eyes a future, bright and joyful for her children and for mine.
I see so many women like her. In places, few people know exist.
These women are my inspiration.