Mamta Joshi – A Representative of Resilience

Resilience. The ability to stand up quickly after a fall. Armchair experts will have many theories and offer many perspectives about how to be resilient in stressful situations, but how many of them could do what Mamta has actually done in real life.

When Mamta could not attend a pre-scheduled B2R interview due to the sudden death of her father, the very next day after his cremation, she turned up at the centre and requested for an  interview to be conducted for her. Needless to say, she cleared interview with flying colours and got inducted into B2R.

Her response to what she did comes from her realization of the basic realities of life. ”My father was the only earning member in our family. After he was no more, I had to fill in his place. And for that I needed a job.” For Mamta there was no choice except for moving on with life after losing one of the most crucial persons in her life. “No matter how much I cry or weep, father will not return. But my mother is there. I need to look after her, take care of her needs.” Her voice gets choked filled with emotions as she trails off.

Mamta may look like just another face in the crowd, but is actually a person of extraordinary grit, and amazing courage. Every day she takes a local bus to get to the B2R centre. Hailing from the village of Sashbani, she comes from a family of extremely humble means.

“I was 18 years old and I knew very little English, had no real experience using a computer. Everything was new for me in computer but I learnt it at B2R and worked hard in order to clear training. Initially I hesitated in asking questions however after the training, I now am comfortable and speak openly, learn and share my best practices, and operate computer independently”. Post training, as part of publishing delivery team at B2R, her work involves extracting and tagging of articles for a American digital magazine newsstand. Her supervisor, Vikram shares “Mamta is shy by nature but one of the hardworking members in the team. She tries her level best to achieve desired output” while center manager of Letibunga center Abhishek adds “Mamta is one of the disciplined team members on floor, though role is challenging but with support she is confidently delivering”.

Currently the stable rock in the family, she continues to give shape to her future. “My father had very limited income and used to stay sick most of the time. Most of whatever he earned got spent on his medicines. He could not even afford the badly needed repairs of the house” she says, stating that now that she has a stable job, she is able to pay for her brother’s college education and has plans of getting their house repaired in the near future. When asked about her future aspirations, she just smiles confidently and says she will think about herself once she has been able to fulfill her basic duties towards her family, leaving me inspired and touched.