Trained and working as a teacher, a mother of three, Nirmala lost her husband to alcoholism two years back.

But she didn’t lose heart or give up anything. Instead she changed her life. She quit the teacher’s job, took up being a cash exchange vendor at one of Imphal’s three all women vendor markets.

She would have preferred to continue to teach but it didn’t pay enough to raise three children and didn’t allow flexible work timings.

She is an inspiration to me because the way she has dealt with life before and after the tragedy struck. Always a working woman, she has created new sources of income.

The question is why do we underpay our teachers, large percentage of whom are women, and why do we not allow flexible options of work for working mothers?