“I have known unrest since my birth” says 36 years old, Manasi. Manasi was born and brought up in a family where her father considered a girl child to be a curse. Neglected since birth, Manasi recalls the pain she faced when her father refused to send her to school. Due to her strong will and interest in studies she managed to self-learn by borrowing study materials from her friends. Her father married her off at the young age of 17 to ‘get rid of her’. Her husband was a good man, however, he passed away after 7 months of her marriage, at which time she was 3 months pregnant. Manasi went back to her parent’s and began working as a domestic help to contribute her share to the family. Eventually, her father asked her to leave the house which made her move to Kolkata where she had to work hard to make ends meet. She sent her child to Ramakrishna Mission School while she worked through many odd jobs to cover their expenses.

Manasi heard about Azad while working at a church. She could not believe that a woman could be a chauffeur but she pursued the training with Azad for a period of one year while alongside she worked as a domestic help to meet her daily expenses. After completion of her course, Manasi initially worked as a private placement chauffeur and two years later with the support of Sakha she applied for the Pink Cab, sanctioned by the State Government of West Bengal under the Gatidhara scheme. Thereafter, her new journey of independence and self-reliance started as a commercial cab driver. Currently, she is working and says “I would also like to save and buy another car, and hire a chauffeur to drive that one, thus expanding my business.” She is happy that she made the choice to join Azad and has been able to transform her life with this choice.