Pudukkottai: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown, Dhanalakshmi has been deprived of being a domestic help, leaving her family to stare at a bleak future.
This 28-year-old is the sole breadwinner of her family.
Dhanalakshmi is the last child to her parents: Raju (77) and Vasantha (70). Yet, the burden of feeding the family has fallen on her shoulders at a tender age immediately after she completed her SSLC examination.
After a spinal cord surgery, Raju, a cobbler, became paralyzed and remains bedridden. His wife, Vasantha, is afflicted with diabetes and blood pressure. She too is confined to the house. The septuagenarian couple has five daughters and two sons. Out of which three have hearing and speech impairment, while the other four have hearing impairment.
Hence, Dhanalakshmi was forced to give up her studies. She took up odd jobs and as a domestic help in nearby households, she was earning Rs 2000 a month- barely enough to support a big family.
“I do not entertain any dream of becoming rich and affluent. All that I desire and strive for is to provide three meals a day to my family. Even if I can feed them, I would be happy,” she said.
“I even thought of poisoning the whole family and end my life. However, I have cast aside such thoughts. It is not easy to support a family of disabled," added Dhanalakshmi.
“If the government is magnanimous enough to give the job of a toilet cleaner, I would grab it without any hesitation. If I can earn at least Rs 100 a day, it will be enough to feed my family,” bemoaned a heartbroken Dhanalakshmi, pleading for help from the government.
Explaining further, she said that the stocks that she gets from the ration shop are not sufficient even for a fortnight.
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