Fri, 29 Mar, 2024

Urmila Didi : A Survivor

By Shreha Regmi

Dreaming of becoming a teacher, Urmila Didi was born in Koteshwor but now lives in Kapan. Urmila Didi is the girl who is always seen in the canteen writing down orders, talking to everyone in a very polite manner. Her job is to note down the orders everyone places and then passing it to the cooks. Talking about her childhood, Urmila Didi got very emotional. After only three months of marrying her mother, her father married another woman. She said that since her mother was uneducated, her father married her mother just for the sake of making her do all the household chores. She said that because her father wanted someone on his level, he married her step mother who was a doctor. He later on divorced her mother so they left them and went on their own. Her mother then took all three of her baby daughters and went to her brother’s house. But, they had no hope over there because even they didn’t help her. So, her mother had to do labor work to feed her three daughters and educate them. Two of her sisters passed their S.L.C and they are married now. Talking about herself, she passed her Plus Two level in 2068. She couldn’t continue her further studies because her mother could no longer work. Now, it was her responsibility to look after her mother. Talking about Deerwalk, she came to work in Deerwalk with the help of her sister after graduating Plus Two. Her sister also works in the canteen and three years have gone by. She says that it has been a wonderful experience working here, having wonderful workmates and having the best manager, Ram Dai. She also talked about the previous manager Mohan Dai, and said that both of them are great individuals. When asked about her happiest moment, she said that it was when she passed her S.L.C in First Division. She hates her dad, and she has not seen him since he abandoned her family. Sharing an incident, she said that there was a time when her mother could not afford her tuition fees and they went to their father. But he refused to help. So they went to Maiti Nepal and asked for their help.After that, their father was compelled to help but he sent an amount of Rs. 500 only which was not enough to make a monthly expenditure. She has no happy childhood memories, and she didn’t want to recall any. She is very happy living with her mother and looking after her. She wishes to continue her studies when she is capable of paying the fees and become a Nepali teacher. She sometimes envies us for being able to attend such a nice college. She shyly tells that she doesn’t want to get married now. Having endured a lot of ups and downs in life, Urmila Didi is a survivor. Facing such difficulties since her childhood, she has become an inspiration to me. She wishes for the betterment of the canteen area. She wants everyone inside the canteen to have a happy life ahead. She also wants her pay to be increased so she could fulfil her mother’s dream, because what she gets isn’t enough for her family. We have a lot of beautiful people around us, we must learn to respect every one of them. Be it Madan Dai, Ram Dai, Sharmila Didi, Kedar Dai, Deepak Dai or Urmila Didi. Respect them and be nice. That’s the best you could do to make them happy.