“My parents were also stonemasons so I’ve seen them do this work ever since I was a baby. I’ve always been tough because that’s how I was raised. My parents never pampered me, and while they worked, I was left on my own nearby. I learnt to crawl on the rubble, and even took my first steps on these stones. That’s the reason nobody taught me how to work, I just started by observing my parents. They never treated me differently or told me to ‘behave like a girl’ & I was raised to believe I could do anything as well as any boy. I never even realized that people considered this work to be ‘too’ difficult for a girl because of all the heavy lifting. I had no problem getting the stones from the quarry and then lifting them around to turn them into different objects. I liked my work, and I was happy when they arranged my marriage to a stonemason.

I continued working after marriage and even though I’ve been doing this for so long, I’ve never been injured or suffered any pain. I lost my husband a few years back & my kids are all grown up – my daughter says she wants to study further and work at a corporate office. But I think, even though kids might learn a lot from books, the biggest lessons they learn are by looking at their parents – just like I learnt from mine and my daughter’s learning from me. I’m proud that she’s grown into a strong and beautiful young girl and I know that no matter what happens she will never underestimate the physical or mental strength of a woman.”

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