On Persistence, Hope, and Tenacity.

Nagarathna is an exceptional leader and a Dry Waste Collection Center operator at Ward 82 (Garudacharpalya). She has overcome numerous challenges that life has thrown her way, and now stands tall as an entrepreneur and bread-winner.

Nagarathna is the oldest among her siblings, she tells me.

“I didn’t know about my family for the first several years of my life. My parents left me under my grandparents’ care at just nine months old because I had a few health complications as an infant. My grandparents raised me as their own daughter, and I always viewed them as my parents, and knew no other family except them.”

She was in 5th grade when she met her family for the first time, and it wasn’t under pleasant circumstances. “My grandfather passed away, and my grandmother also died within a year out of heartbreak. I had seen my parents around occasionally before, but it was only after my grandparents’ passing that they introduced themselves to me as their parents. I barely knew them so I wasn’t keen on going to live with them, but I had no other choice.”

Her life changed overnight. She moved from her hometown to Bangalore to be with her parents, but city life was hard for her to get accustomed to in the initial days. She felt like a stranger in her own home.

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“My parents got me to join St. Philomena’s School because one of our relatives used to run it, and I started attending my classes there along with my siblings. The change was hard on me. My mother never considered me as her own, and didn’t treat me well. My grandparents never forced any chores on me, but here it was different. I had to do all the work around the house.”

While in 6th grade, her father was arrested for reasons unbeknownst to her.

?“He said that he was wrongfully accused of a crime he never committed, but there was not much we could do. Our relatives only added fuel to the fire by taunting my family, so my mother decided to shift all of us as far away from them as possible. So we ended up moving from Mahalakshmi Layout to Kurubarahalli, which was a desolate locality with sparsely populated houses. I joined Shanthinikethan School there, but was forced to drop out because my youngest sister had to be taken care of. My mother insisted that I stay back and help around the house. I managed to complete 6th grade with great difficulty.”

Nagarathna was keen on not giving up on her education. She made sure that she attended 7th grade no matter the circumstances. She decided to take her sister along with her to school, and sat outside the classroom, listening to her lessons while still taking care of her sister’s food and other necessities.

“The school authorities tried to send me away but I wouldn’t budge. One day I was tired of them scolding me, so I burst into tears and explained my situation to them, and they were finally a little more sympathetic towards me. I told them that I really wanted to continue my education, and I was willing to prove that I am still a diligent student by writing the final exam, but I just needed that one chance to prove myself to them.”

The school finally allowed her to take her exam, she passed with flying colours. She said that she always made sure she paid attention to the subjects being taught, even when she had to listen through the windows of the classroom. My persistence ensured that I didn’t miss out on my education. By 8th grade, my sister was old enough to start attending school, so from then to grade 10, my schooling went on without too many hiccups. I did really well in my 10th boards as well, and got good grades.”

However, life took an unexpected turn again when a married man began to harass her and her family for her hand in marriage. “I decided to run away. I wanted to complete my education no matter what. I was very familiar with the bus routes in Bangalore at this point, so I boarded a bus to my cousin sister’s house in Jalahalli Cross and didn’t look back.”

Her cousin took her in for a couple of months, but the man eventually found her and tried to harm her cousin’s family as well. “I didn’t want to risk their lives so I decided to place faith in my future and move back home. I eventually was forced into marriage with someone who already had a wife. From then onwards, life became hell for me.”

Her husband was physically abusive and treated Nagarthna with extreme contempt. “I was 17 when I got pregnant with my first son. Both his first wife and I gave birth at the same time and in the same hospital. I think she harboured ill will against me, so she lied to our husband that a different man visited my ward at night when I gave birth. This made the abuse only worse. My husband even tried to kill my son with a stone, but I managed to save my son with great difficulty.”

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Two years after giving birth to her son, Nagarthna fell pregnant once again. “I was not ready to face the kind of torturous situations I faced during my first pregnancy this time around. I did everything I could to make sure I lose the baby, but nothing worked. I couldn’t even afford an abortion at the time. I gave birth to my second son just a few months later.”

It was around this time that Nagarathna’s husband met with a disastrous accident that left him with a broken leg and the inability to walk without support. “My husband must’ve had an epiphany after this accident because he then gave me money to study, and I completed my degree through a correspondence course, and made sure I got whatever additional income by making incense sticks, teaching Hindi to students, hemming shoes, and doing other odd jobs that I could at home while still taking care of my children.”

Nagarathna’s husband died of multiple organ complications in 2004. She had to fight with her husband’s first family for her son’s right to perform the last rites along with them.?

“Around this time I was working in an NGO called Saaksharathe, and helped them in data collection. Because I worked in social services, the people around me gave me a site for free to build a house on. I approached people I knew through my late husband, my family, and others and got construction items for low or no cost, and the community around me even helped me with constructing a small one-room building. I did a lot of the construction work by myself as well, and finally built the house within just a month and a half.”

Just as things started to look upwards for Nagarathna, the rules and regulations changed, and her and all the women who were collecting the waste were pushed out of their jobs. The women got together and organised a strike for their right to continue their work in waste management. This caught the attention of the government officials who allowed them to continue their collection and helped them out with a separate amount for vehicle maintenance.?

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She hopes to make waste management better in her ward, and is passionate about learning more about how she can manage waste in the best way possible. “Life has been hard, but I make it work in whatever way I can. I do the sorting here sometimes, I help my workers out however I can, no matter what happens, I will always value this field, because I have fed, and clothed, and raised my kids into independent adults through the money I made because of waste. I owe my life to it. I hope to be able to expand my center, learn more about waste management, and be able to improve recycling for a lot of different materials, and improve the standard of living for my workers as well.”

Nagarathna ends our conversation with a profound statement. “I don’t want to move out of this field. You can train me to work the highest-paying tech job, but I won’t be able to sleep well at night. Working in waste management gives me the satisfaction of doing good for society. I want to work here for as long as I can, learn more everyday, and keep the city clean.”