ASSAM: Baby Sarkar’s life took a harrowing turn after the birth of her first child, a girl. An occasion to rejoice became a nightmare when her mother-in-law threw her out of the house for being unable to fulfil a condition.
Her four brothers-in-law had daughters, so when she was pregnant, she was given a choice — deliver a male child or leave. As destiny would have it, she delivered a baby girl, Diksha, and soon, the woman found herself homeless with the newborn.
When this ordeal was unfolding, her husband stood silent.
“My husband did not protest it,” recalls Baby, who hails from southern Assam’s Sribhumi district (then Karimganj).
Two months later, one of Baby’s sisters-in-law gave birth to a son. But, by then, Baby had moved to her father’s house, where resources were limited.
Her husband never reached out, and he passed away in 2011, followed by her mother-in-law in 2022.
Baby’s struggle intensified when she had to move to her elder sister Bijoya’s home after her own husband’s untimely demise. Bijoya, a Life Insurance Corporation of India employee, too, had a kid, but as she was battling depression, it fell upon Baby to look after both families. She stayed there for 15 years until Diksha passed the 10th grade in 2019 from a school in Sribhumi.
The two moved to a one-room, one-kitchen rental accommodation. “I did some petty jobs so I could support my daughter’s education,” says Baby, who dropped out midway in graduation.
Diksha went on to pursue a BSc in Botany from a college in Guwahati. To fund the same, Bijoya took a bank loan of Rs 2 lakh for her education. Her sister also came forward with help and took a loan for them. The mother-daughter duo eventually moved to Guwahati to save costs while Diksha studied.
Last year, Diksha started a YouTube channel called Budding Aspirants even while she was preparing for the civil services examination. The revenue generated from the channel helped her fund her expenses. By cracking the Assam Civil Services examination, she brought an end to the long struggle that she and her mother endured together.
Baby says she had a firm belief that girls can also do what boys can, and Diksha proved her right.
“Whatever I could achieve in life is due to the efforts and sacrifices of my mother and my aunt (Bijoya),” Diksha says.
Soon, the trainee ACS officer will have a government accommodation after completing her training.
“My mother will stay with me. She has worked very hard all her life, and it is time for her to rest,” she sums up.