HYDERABAD: A glimpse of a newspaper boy whizzing away as you open the door in the morning to pick up your copy is a familiar sight. But in Motinagar, winds of change are blowing as residents are getting used to seeing sisters Pramila, 16, and Pavithra, 14, delivering their daily dose of news.
Inspired by former President APJ Abdul Kalam who is also believed to have worked as a newspaper delivery boy, the young girls say their jobs help their parents in keeping the home fires burning. They say their early morning paper route doesn’t hamper their studies. While Pramila is in Intermediate First Year, Pavithra is in the 10th grade.
The sisters wake up at 5 am and finish delivering newspapers by 8 am. Following this, they leave for college and school. Locals say they are hard-working girls and receive a lot of respect in the community.
Speaking to Express, Pramila and Pavithra say they both want to become police officers in the future.
Pramila says she’s seen her father, Ram Das Naik, delivering newspapers ever since she was little. “My father faced difficulties during the lockdown as he couldn’t find a boy to deliver the newspapers. Then he asked Pavithra and me to deliver the newspapers. We both were excited and took it up as a challenge. Locals appreciated us and said that both of us will shine just like Abdul Kalam.”
“We see nothing wrong in delivering newspapers. We are helping our parents and locals also support us a lot. Girls in my class encourage me. I feel proud when teachers cite my case as an example for others. One of our teachers tells the students that other girls too should come forward to help their families,” adds Pavithra.
The girls’ father, Ram Das Naik, reveals that he has been in the business since 1999. Apart from that, he also works in a ration shop to meet the family’s needs. Speaking about his daughters, Ram Das says, “My daughters are responsible human beings. Looking at their enthusiasm in delivering newspapers, I bought them a vehicle three months ago. Now, they deliver more than 300 newspapers door-to-door,” Ram Das adds. He wishes to provide quality education to his daughters and see them become IPS officers one day.
Aiming right
Sisters Pramila and Pavithra combine their early-morning job of delivering newspapers door-to-door with their studies effortlessly. It might be a small gender barrier that they’ve broken, since one usually sees only paperboys, but the teens say this is a path to bigger dreams