Can women fix punctures? You must be kidding. But yes it’s true. Along the dingy and dusty road, stench, resounding chaos of horns at Nayakheda By-pass in Mandsaur, sits 45-year old Maina Solanki, a mother of three seen repairing punctured tyres, making a picture perfect scene for feminine strength that every civilised society will dream of.
Working rigorously for the last 25 years, Maina is a popular name in the area, often referred to as Ustad ji. She describes her decision of wading into a male-dominated world as taken with a great hope. “ My father Premchand used to repair punctures. I learnt it from him,” she said. After losing her husband Munshi Solanki, she decided to opt for the same profession.
She works diligently for 12 hours daily to give a good life to her three daughters. “I repair around 15 to 20 tyres daily. It is enough to meet my family requirement.”
Sharing society’s reaction to her decision to take up puncture repair as profession, she said, “Women are often stereotyped in accordance with the nature of work. Lack of physical strength is the most common excuse.”
Reminiscing her old days and strange responses she received from people during her initial days, she revealed, “In early days of struggle, I used to face hardship in fixing punctures as it requires lots of strength to remove a tyre. But with passage of time I mastered this profession.”
She added that the nature of the business is unpredictable. The income varies on day-to-day basis. However, she is happy as now she can meet every requirement of her daughters.
“I believe that we just need to be determined to achieve anything. There were times when I would hurt myself with a hammer or a nail. Even though it took me a while, but such bruises and injuries did not deter me from continuing my work,” said the 45-year old.
