Can you tell me something inspiring story?

 Inspiring story of a royal Rajasthani lady.

“I was in class 8 when I got engaged. But where I come from, girls would be married off by the age of 10, so my engagement was labelled ‘late’. Still, Papa told everybody, ‘Meri beti 12th pass karke hi shaadi karegi.’ So I was 20 when I got married–my husband was an engineer at Nagar Parishad.

After our wedding he said to me, ‘Why don’t you continue your education?’ I was surprised–jahan betiyon ko nahi padhate, waha bahuon ko padhane ki baat ho rahi thi! He even helped me prepare. So, in 1999, a month after my second son was born, I passed my BA exams.

A few years later, my husband said to me, ‘If you complete your B.Ed, you could work as a teacher.’ So, after sending my kids to school, I’d prepare for my exams! But just weeks before the exams, the unimaginable happened.

My husband, youngest son and I were driving down to Barmer, when our car crashed; I lost consciousness. I woke up in the hospital and was bedridden. I got to know only 6 months later that my husband had slipped into a coma; within a week, he’d succumbed.

I cried like anything; I couldn’t even see my husband one last time before he was cremated. I lost the will to live, but then I’d look at my sons and wonder, ‘What will happen to them?’

That one thought pulled me out of my grief. A year after the accident, I was able to walk normally. My family supported me financially but as time passed, it became difficult to sustain; Papa started motivating me to get a job.

So, at 35, I completed my B.Ed before taking up a job as a teacher; that took care of my household expenses. And that’s when it struck me, ‘What would’ve happened if I didn’t have a degree?’ Until then, I’d never thought of education as an asset.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the other women who weren’t even allowed to complete their 10th–I wanted to do something for them. I knew it’d be easier to spread the message if I had a platform, so I decided to prepare for the Rajasthan Administrative Service exam.

For 3 years, I immersed myself into books. Around that time, Papa told me about the ongoing Zilla Parishad elections; I decided to contest for that too! And in 2015, I cleared both! I could either serve people by becoming the Zila Pramukh in Jaisalmer or by traveling around Rajasthan. I chose the former–I wanted to be close to my kids.

During my 5 year tenure, I went door to door telling women–‘Study not because you want a job, but because you must be financially independent.’ Recently, when I sponsored travel for 12 girls to attend school, people said, ‘12 ladkiyon ke liye itna kharcha kyon karna?’ But I know every small step matters.

Sometimes I think my late husband knew that our lives were going to change, so he prepared me for it. He’d keep telling me, ‘Anjana, nobody knows what life has in store for us, you should be able to stand on your own feet,’ and now, I’m passing on his message to all the other girls in Jaisalmer.” #StoriesFromTheThar