Even before the break of dawn, when most of us are still in bed, two sisters get on their bicycles to distribute newspapers in the city. After two hours on the job, they are back home to get ready for school.
Seema and Sahana Rajapur study in I PUC and VIII standard respectively, and deliver about 150 newspapers a day. “We are only helping our father,” says Seema cheerfully, with a sense of pride. Their father, Devendra Rajapur, has been a newspaper distributor for the last three decades.
“Our father would often complain that the delivery boys are absent from work. It had become a routine problem for him and he was finding it hard to find efficient delivery boys. That’s when we decided to help our father,” says Sahana.
ADVERTISEMENT
Not that this has affected their academics. Seema secured 72 per cent in the SSLC exam and is now studying in the Government PU College for Girls in Vijayapura.
When Seema is asked how it feels to do the job that is considered boys’ work, she says: “Who made this rule. After all, it is a simple job and it enables us to help our father. We are happy to do it,” she replies.
Their father says he is “fortunate to have such caring children”.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sisters Seema and Sahana are happy to become delivery ‘boys’ for their father, a newspaper distributor in the city