To me driving signifies mobility, respect and talent.

2015 is the year that changed Rita’s life forever, in February she lost her husband who was terminally ill for some time. Rita had a turbulent marital life with the ill husband and in-laws who hated her. “My husband was a cancer patient, he was like a baby, always in need of care and protection. He was totally dependent on me. He died leaving me with a small child. My in-laws started to abuse me. My health also did not permit me to work outside. But my mother-in-law forced me to go out and earn for the family.”

After seven months of pain and misery after the death of her husband, Rita came to know about Azad Foundation from her mother and joined the second batch of trainees. One day her mother-in-law tried to strangle her, so Rita sought help from a local councillor. After this incident, Rita and her son left her in-law’s, but they refused to give her jewelleries and other valuables belonging to her. Azad Foundation contacted another NGO working on violence against women, and with their help helped Rita retrieved her valuables.

Rita says that driving has liberated her: “Coming to Azad Foundation and learning to drive has helped me free myself from all the shackles. It has given me freedom and self respect”.

Rita said that household chores are expected from a woman, but driving is an achieved skill. It is a special talent that can be rewarding in the sense that one can feel emancipated by acquiring this new skill and earning through it as well. Rita’s parents, whom she lives with now, are supportive enough to let her explore her choices. Though Rita’s father is apprehensive as he thinks that driving is not a woman’s job, her mother supports her wholeheartedly.

Rita highlights the continuous struggle against a male dominated space that keeps women confined within the private realm when she narrates how even policemen regularly taunt her “Go wear bangles at home. The steering wheel is not appropriate for those hands”.

“Azad Foundation has given me the courage to acquire a new skill and a sense of freedom. I have started living afresh. Driving is my dream. I want to earn and support my son, I want to educate him and give him a healthy and happy life. I want to prove that like men, women can also do anything and everything.” Rita said that her life has taught her that marriage can never be the destiny of a girl. There is so much to explore, so much to learn. Marriage restricts and limits ones choices. Today thinking back she feels if she had the choice, she would have not married.

Rita is presently in her final stages of training, and will be ready for placement by October 2016.