The Life of a Thari Woman

The Thar desert of District Tharparkar and Sindh province is a harsh landscape where survival depends on resilience and strength. For the women who consider this desert as home, life presents daily struggles and hardships. Growing up in the village of Dodey jo wandio of Taluka Nagarparkar district Tharparkar, Najoo's life has been one of servitude, sacrifice and suffering from a very young age.

Najoo was married off when she was just 13 years old in an arranged marriage to Pibholal, a farmer 30 years old. As the youngest daughter, she had little choice in the matter and was expected to leave her family and start her own. Marriage meant becoming the sole caretaker of her husband and in-laws. Her routine activities were cooking, cleaning clothes, fetching water and tending to the animals and farm under the scorching desert sun.

With no education and illiteracy widespread in her village, Najoo had no means to support herself or escape her situation. She quickly became pregnant and over the next 15 years gave birth to 5 children, though only 4 survived infancy due to lack of medical care and malnutrition. Caring for her family and home left no time for rest. If she was lucky, she managed a few hours of sleep each night.

The harsh climate and isolation of the Thar only compounded Najoo's struggles. Summer temperatures soar above 45 degrees Celsius with little vegetation or trees for shade. Water is scarce, found only by walking many kilometers to fetch it from wells or government tanks. The landscape is unforgiving - sandstorms whip through without warning, scorching skin and lungs. Famines are common due to low and erratic rainfall, leaving villagers on the brink of starvation.

Najoo's husband Pibho Lal worked tirelessly to grow crops in the sandy soil, but harvests were meager and unreliable. Most years, the family went hungry for months. To earn extra money, Najoo took on odd jobs like collecting cow dung or working as a farm laborer. But wages were paltry - often just 300 rupees for backbreaking work under the punishing sun. Still, every paisa helped to buy grains to stave off hunger.

Despite the hardships, Najoo found solace and strength in her faith. She took comfort in daily prayers at the village temple and drew inspiration from stories of courageous women in Hindu scriptures who persevered through adversity. In her spare moments, Najoo began composing simple poems in the local Registani dialect to express her experiences and find meaning in her suffering. One such poem, translated itto English, reflects on her life:

The Desert Woman's Lament

The sun beats down without mercy

As I walk on the barren sands alone

Carrying the weight of family

With each step, my burdens have grown

My children cry out in hunger

The crops have failed once more

As famine spreads hunger

Will we make it through this store?

My husband toils without resting

To coax life from this dead land

Yet the rains remain unblessed

Leaving our future so bland

O God, why must I suffer so?

In this harsh place of my birth

Grant me strength my cross to bear

And hope to endure life's dearth

Though Najoo's future remains uncertain, her resilience and strength of spirit shine through in her poem. For Thari women across the desert, survival depends on faith, community and finding purpose even in suffering. Najoo's voice reminds us of the quiet endurance of rural women who sustain their families against immense odds, their stories seldom told.

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