FOR THE SAKE OF STOMACH

By the Grace of God , I am living a good life where I do not have to bother for my daily bread but I wish it was the same for all Indian women . Unfortunately it is true that a large number of Indian women have to work extremely hard every day to get their daily bread . Due to ignorance & social customs like childhood marriage many Indian women are illiterate . As a result of which they have to go for jobs which involve more of physical work than mental work. However there are some professions which neither demand much physical or mental labor but still very hard & painful. Well in this article I am elucidating on the profession of Rudali & women posing nude for aspiring artists.

Rudalis are women who are hired for morning in Rajasthan . These women have to dress up in black attire & have to cry loudly & beat their chest for hours. To cry continuously they use a kind of kajal to maintain the flow of tears. Rudalis are paid very nominal for their work . Just 15-20 Rs to cry for 4-5 hours. In long run crying affects the health of Rudalis. In Rajasthan people hire Rudalis for mourning when somebody dies in their family. It is believed that hiring Rudalis is a matter of status symbol & prestige. Wealthier the person & more number of Rudalis are hired by him in the event of death in his family.

Still more painful & harder is the job of women posing nude for aspiring artists . In art schools where students are trained in painting & sketching women for nude modeling are appointed & are paid daily for their work. They have to pose nude for several hours & some times even have to work overtime. However these women are not paid in accordance with their toil. They get around 200 Rs daily . Recently I read about 50 years old Arai Sankar Naidu who is posing nude for last 30 years in Mumbai's oldest art college - J J School of Arts . Arai is an uneducated lady & due to domestic violence she left her in-laws house & migrated to Mumbai . In order to earn her daily bread she took up the job of nude model in J J School of Arts. When she started her career she used to get 8 Rs for 12 hours of work . Now she gets around 200 Rs from which she spends 25 Rs per day in transportation. Arai is not happy with the pay scale , she is happy as she was able to educate her son in an English medium school. Although Arai has helped several students of J J School of Arts in becoming renowned artists but unfortunately Arai is still a very poor lady living in Chembur area of Mumbai.

Thus to get petty requirements of life fulfilled many Indian women have to take up profession of mourners & nude models.