Case1-June-2017
I am Muthulakshmi aged 53 years, a native of Madurai. Our family was settled in Ahimsapuram area for generations. My father was a lorry driver who became a lorry owner and later managed to become a garage owner through his hard work. I have one elder brother and one elder sister and two younger sisters. My family had a modest living in our area. While I was in 5th standard, my father got addicted to alcohol and in a short span we lost all good fortune and we sisters were forced to work in a handloom mill and my brother in a welding workshop to support the family. My sisters and I were paid one rupee for a unit of finished work. One unit of finished work consists of 20 yarns of thread. We together earned two rupees a day and our mother managed our home with this bare minimum contribution.
I am Muthulakshmi aged 53 years, a native of Madurai. Our family was settled in Ahimsapuram area for generations. My father was a lorry driver who became a lorry owner and later managed to become a garage owner through his hard work. I have one elder brother and one elder sister and two younger sisters. My family had a modest living in our area. While I was in 5th standard, my father got addicted to alcohol and in a short span we lost all good fortune and we sisters were forced to work in a handloom mill and my brother in a welding workshop to support the family. My sisters and I were paid one rupee for a unit of finished work. One unit of finished work consists of 20 yarns of thread. We together earned two rupees a day and our mother managed our home with this bare minimum contribution. We soon lost my brother’s income as he became a wanderer who never bothered about the family. He at times visited home and most of the time lived out and we never took him into account. This situation forced me to take charge of the family because my mother and elder sister were only able manage the day-to-day situation. As the income was meager in the handloom mill, I took up a night shift job at a rice grinding mill in 1990. I was paid six rupees for one duty for which one rupee commission was to be paid to the facilitator who organized the labour contract. When it seemed that the income of the family members was adequate, my brother met with an accident in the welding shop and lost his sight in one eye and my younger sister who was working as a domestic maid in Coimbatore gradually lost her eye sight as well and came back home. Then, I was earning around Rs.150/- a month. I was paying Rs.25/- towards rent and met the whole expenses of six-membered family with my sole contribution. My father whose physical presence at least provided moral support as male head of the family died due to cancer. Our family was in such a financial stress that I found it hard to meet the funeral expenses. I was not able to pay the rent regularly and hence vacated the house by leaving the grinding stones to pay the balance rent. My brother was still a wanderer who occasionally came home, stayed for a few days without any contribution. I managed to get my elder and one younger sisters married.
I got married at the age of 27 years. My husband Arumugam was a street vendor selling broomstick on a bicycle. I did not have the blessing to nurture my kids. Now, we are four in our family managed by and my husband’s income and mine. The Kalanjiam programme was initiated in 2001 in Sellur area of Madurai Urban. It was due to the sincere effort of the associate “Pandiammal” that I joined the Kalanjiam. She told me repeatedly that joining the Kalanjiam would certainly help my family. I was hesitant because of the financial constraint. Saving money on a monthly basis to secure a loan was not certain due to continuous financial crises. All along, I used to access credit for the family needs from usurious sources and that also was a strain on the financial status of the family. I used to pay only the interest and find it hard to repay the principal. In the locality when the Kalanjiam was promoted, I joined the Sangaiah Kalanjiam reluctantly and availed the first loan from the group to pay the house rent. The first meeting started with six members and a savings of Rs.50/-. I was working in the rice grinding mill in the night shift after all the hard labour, and when I was about to take the day nap, I was called for Kalanjiam meeting. With all drowsiness and not in proper attire, I used to go there and just mark my attendance without any Case 2 June 2017 Development Matters involvement. Since I had been working from my childhood, I was bold enough to defend/express myself when needed. As all of them knew that I could not be disputed for my appearance, none had the guts to tell me that I should be properly dressed.
The members of our group used to attend the meeting neatly dressed. I was not used to dress properly and was not actively involved in the meeting, so the group entrusted me the responsibility of being the secretary of the group. I disagreed with them for offering me the responsibility as I had to sleep in the day hours and look after my dependents. But, the members overruled my decision.
Meanwhile as my husband received meager earnings from his broom selling, he was passive and indolent in nature and in few years after marriage, he stopped working. My wage income was inadequate to feed four adults. At times of hardship, we were forced to skip meals or manage with the tapioca roots which were cheaper. The night shift in the rice grinding mill took a toll on my health and the need to meet the expense of the family forced me to look at alternative work where earnings were more. Those days, construction labourers were one among the highest paid women. Hence, I became a construction labourer where I was paid Rs.26/- per day. There I noticed that labourers involved in mixing concrete were paid higher than regular mason labour. Thus, I become a concrete mixing labour, by this time, the wages had become Rs.150/-.
I find repaying Kalanjiam effortless as my principal and interest are a modest amount compared to the interest alone being paid to the pawn brokers. So, I became prompt in repayment, and rarely missed any installments. Realising the benefits of the group, I convinced four of my unit members and other neighbours to join the Kalanjiam. Gradually, the 20 members were enrolled into the Kalanjiam. I availed subsequent loans of Rs.1,000/- and Rs.10,000/- for repaying usurious loans. Thereafter I almost refrained from availing any usurious loan.
When I was about to get Rs.10,000/- for loan closure, the house leasing loan product was evolved and introduced in our federation in 2005. It is then I realised that my My house rent dent 25% of my monthly expenses, leasing a house assured me three years of guaranteed occupancy and reclaim of the amount deposited on lease completion. This gave me satisfaction and peace of mind Development Matters June 2017 3 house rent assumed 25% of my monthly wages. There is always a reason for frequent shifting of residence due to differences with other tenants in a compounded house. The house leasing assured hassle-free minimum 3 years guaranteed occupancy and reclaim of the deposit after the lease completion. By the time, we repay the loan in installments, the loan amount will get back to our hands from the house owner. I availed the Rs.30,000/- loan for house leasing. It gave me satisfaction and peace of mind that at least for few years I need not bother over shifting of the house.
In the meantime, slowly I comprehended the activity and become a group head where I was responsible to enlist 10 women and two men in a contract unit. Most of the group heads were men as they could easily enroll new labourers into their groups and earn additional wages for organising and ensuring completion of works. I used to get Rs. 1,000/day after meeting out all payments to the unit members. For managing the contractual needs, I solely depended on Kalanjiam for any financial ventures.
I also got my husband involved in making spot visits and doing preparatory work, before I arrived at the spot with my group. When things seem to be going well, six years back my husband was diagnosed with throat cancer and passed away in 2010. As there was life insurance coverage for the member and spouse, I got a claim of Rs.30,000 from AABY and Rs.5,000 from OGI. But I was the one who had opposed enrollment in life insurance when it was introduced in the group. I had been convinced by the overwhelming decision of the members. I invested the amount in the work. Slowly, I increased my loans after clearing earlier loans like other members and got the lease amount increased over the period.
“Now I am dwelling in a house at Rs.3 lakhs lease. We are saving Rs.250/- per month and I have a cumulative savings of Rs.35,000/-.I have also brought five sovereign of gold in these 15 years of being in the Kalanjiam. I have purchased two pieces of land at 1½ cents in Nedungulam and 2 ½ cents at Aviyur”.
Other than financial benefits in our Kalanjiam, meeting always begins with a prayer. ‘Prasad’ is offered in this prayer voluntarily by the members. People offer whatever money they can as their offerings. This money is used for both happy and sad occasions of Kalanjiam members. I look upon the members of my Kalanjiam as my family members. As a leader of the group, I used to attend functions of every member. If there was any death of a family member, we share the member’s pain and console them to overcome the loss. I am grooming a girl child from the neighbourhood. Her mother died when she was two months old, her father remarried leaving her with her grandparents who themselves were poor. I take care of the kid’s needs. She is like my adopted child. Other than attending the group member’s family events, I attend all the cluster meetings and events of the cluster and federation without fail. I had also facilitated promotion of two Kalanjiams. As a leader, I was trained in the development initiatives of the federation. So, once when one of our group members had difficulty in obtaining the legal heir certificate upon the death of her husband, I helped her represent the case in the district Collectorate. After overcoming many barriers, we got the required documents and t the claim of Rs.40,000. I also provide dresses for labourers working under me during Diwali as a gift every year. I spend about Rs. 5000 per year on my labourers towards the Diwali gift. These are some of the incidents where I gained popularity through the nobility expressed in my actions, which is one of the important qualities of a ‘Kalanjiam leader’.
I grew up in a distressed environment; where all our relatives deserted us because we lost all our fortunes. Now in 15 years of being in the Kalanjiam, I had transformed from a clumsy women to a respectful Kalanjiam leader. I had a bigger family to look after and care for me. Now I feel I have overcome the stressful moments of my life and moved forward with confidence like never before; for me “Kalanjiam is the lodestar of my life” tells Muthulakshmi.