Laxmi

Laxmi, was the first female employee of RBI in India.She was employed as a sweeper in the Chennai office and still continues to be so. Single mother Laxmi educated her daughter to be an employee in RBI as well. Just that, her daughter is now a  financial analyst. 

Lakshmi

Lakshmi, 51, came into a large joint family, brought from a small town to the big city. All the promises that her in laws made to her parents were never fulfilled. They told her that they would treat her like a daughter and made sure she studied further. But instead, she was treated like one of the house helps, with no respect and ill treated to such an extent that she wasn't allowed to sleep on the same bed as her husband. Education, she says, was out of the question. They took away all the money and resources that her parents had given her and she couldn't go back to her parents due to the shame she thought it would bring them. 3 years later, her baby daughter was her only respite. But this time she made up her mind that she would not leave her daughter to the same fate. At 25, she left her in laws and her husband and took up a low level job at a bank. 26 years later, she can't believe she had the courage to do so. Today her daughter is a practicing CA in the United States and her mother Lakshmi is a strong, independent woman. 

Sukanya

'We weren't allowed to listen to the radio at home' she said. 'My grandmother was extremely strict and my father was completely in her control. It was a sad state because my mother was a singer. Before she got married, she used to play the violin and sing beautifully. But once she moved to this house, she wasn't allowed to touch her violin, neither was she allowed to open her mouth till she was spoken to.. Though I do have vague memories  of me and my sisters staying up late at night, not falling asleep, just so that she would not stop singing us to sleep. It was beautiful. You'll also sing one day Kanna, she used to tell us.' She has a faraway look in her eyes, deep in memory and the period more than 50 years back.
'My father and my mother never had a loving relationship, because of my father's mother. She controlled the house. Years after, even though she had passed away, my father and mother still remained distant from each other, till one day my father brought a radio set home. Now all grown up, my sisters and I stared in complete wonder as they started singing together. We started singing along with them and that was the only training we ever got. Today, all 3 of us are singers. Somewhere, our mother made sure she kept her deal of making us sing. 

Neela

Nithya, daughter of Neela, at 24, knows that she isn't meant for marriage. She wants to travel the world, teach little children and preferably not have any of her own. Her mother Neela,62, is all for this idea.
What made you think like that?
I was from a conservative family from Thanjavur that believed in early marriage for girls and a lot patriarchy. Though I was the second daughter, at many points, I was the only bread winner for the family. I remained unmarried till I was 28, a big deal for girls at that time. My parents were spoken about in many ill ways just because I was unmarried. But I moved to Chennai and tasted what freedom really felt like. Though my parents didn't realize it, but they had given me wings, so when I got married, I was a complete person. Generally women tend to think that they are completed by the men in their lives, but that's not true. Especially in today's day and age. It is the union of two complete human beings. And if my daughter doesn't need that companionship, I don't see why I should force her into it, if anything I want to give her those wings that my parents unknowingly gave me. My husband passed away many years ago, and I have lived so far, without companionship.  It isn't impossible. If anything, it's empowering.