Profile

I hail from a village called Maholi in Mewat and was born in 1962. My parents Were not educated, but were aware about education. My mother is from Rajasthan. My grandfather (nana) was a revenue collector. During the Partition in 1947, a few of my relatives went away to Pakistan. Some of the Punjabis who arrived here from Pakistan began to live in the premises where we lived in a haveli. I lived with my parents, three sisters and one brother. My eldest sister completed matriculation in 1976. My mother sent my brother to school. The migrant family from Pakistan in our haveli would send even their girl children to school. My mother was impressed and decided that why cannot my girls also study. My father was a small time farmer and sold buffalo milk to cover the expenses of the school fees of my elder sister, my brother and then me. So, school was a struggle as my parents had to make both ends meet. But by God’s grace I completed matriculation and joined the Government College in Nagina where the medium of education was Hindi. Of course, there was opposition to my education from the menfolk within the family circle. It was the Principal of the Nagina College who came home and convinced my father that how important it was for me to do my graduation. In fact the Principal cleared my fees dues too! As I had scored well in the matriculation, I received a scholarship and in 1979, I got admission into the Government College at Nagina and completed graduation in 1983. Meanwhile two Bal Bhavans were opened in Mewat. I joined one of them as a teacher for one year.
I got married to Bashir Ahmed in 1984. My husband was in the army in the Electronics Wing in Secunderabad. I had this intense desire to make him an engineer! I told him point blank that he had to acquire an engineering degree which would help him in future. He agreed and took up a course from Delhi.
My thirst for knowledge was not quenched. I wished to pursue my post-graduation in history and enrolled at the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. I lived in the hostel during the course. In 1987, I did a course in Library Science from Sonepat and B. Ed and then M. Ed. In the Mewat school, there was a post of a librarian and I worked here for some time. There was a sudden spurt of projects here in Mewat around 1996-97. While most were on agricultural development, there was one on women empowerment which interested me. I got associated with the project from the International Fund for Agricultural Development which got over by 2005.
Currently, the Mewat Development Agency in Nuh has taken me as a field coordinator. This involves interacting with self-help groups , women’s groups and many NGOs. My aim is to see that people in Mewat pay attention to education, especially girls education, women should have their own self-help groups and that Mewat sheds its image of a backward region. There is a lot of potential among the Meos to pursue education. All it takes is for the older generation to think afresh about the future of the younger generation and allow the children to pursue studies.
My husband is currently with the Haryana Electricity Board after taking voluntary retirement from the army. While my elder daughter has completed plus 2 and is pursuing medicine in Kota while staying in a hostel there, my second daughter is in the 8th standard. Two sons are studying in the 7th and 5th standard. My dream is that my children too should complete education and work in Mewat for the development of the place and the people. I run an NGO- the Mewat Mahila Balvikas Sanstha which is a vocational centre for women, offering training in embroidery, tailoring and even Hindi language guidance.
It has been a long struggle for me to convince people about why women should seek education. Narrow-minded men and the society had to be told that education is not a matter of acquiring degrees, but it has to be used for the upliftment of the society too. Today when I drive my scooter through the roads of Mewat, I do not find eyes popping out or people staring at me. They are getting used to the fact that times are changing . I am a Meo woman, I have my Islamic traditions intact. My education has not come in the way of my Islamic style of life.
As told to Nigar Ataulla