She woke up with a start; it was way past her regular time. She hurried through her morning chores and rushed to get to the water tap. Her toddler son on one hip, a huge stainless steel pot on another, she stood patiently in the line of harried women waiting for the welcome sound of tinkling water against metal.

The usual arguments, the normal bantering, the less than half a pot of water weighing on her hips, she got back home. She searched through the pots and pans, found a handful of rice flour, boiled it into a thin gruel and fed her child.

She changed into her work clothes, woke her husband, got kicked, picked her son and left to earn a living.

She mopped floors, washed vessels, ate gratefully the food that was offered by one of her patrons, and moved on to the next house.  Her son was becoming heavy for her frail body to carry. She led him by the hand, he slipped, he cried, she hurt; she picked him up and trudged along.

It was late afternoon when she returned home. Her husband wasn’t around. She hurried to grope under the mattress, found the money she had stashed away missing. She wept silent tears.

The child woke up and expected to be fed. The mother’s heart melted. She bartered the metal diya, her father’s blessings, for a hundred rupees.  She bought wheat flour, vegetables and some oil. She also bought a pair of cheap earrings and tucked the remaining money inside a pouch she intended to wear on her person hereon.

She hurried back home. Her son gave her a toothy grin. She gave him a candy and set about cooking. Once the sparse meal was ready, she fed her child. Her son, his hunger satiated, chattered away, till he fell asleep on her lap.

Her husband returned, drunk, as she had expected. Threw away the plate containing her efforts, punched her twice and passed out.  She ate off the floor, cleaned up and curled down wearing her new pair of earrings. She had turned 15 today.

Uma Iyer is a writer, a mother and a freelance consultant for marketing communication to several organisations. She was raised in Mumbai and currently lives in Delhi. Her retirement plan includes two dogs, many books and a shack by the sea.