A mother’s ambition

For several related reasons, the variation of ambition contributes to status and privilege, so when you see it in unexpected places, there is both pleasure and fascination .

Last week, I saw a documentary about life in Darjeeling — lodged in India’s north-east Himalaya, with its railway culture and a very poor but ambitious single mother, doing back-breaking work to improve life for her five sons and herself .

So once again, I thought about my country at this time of disruptive economic challenges and the need for appropriate changes in some habits and attitudes .

And the extent to which overcoming the odds, the drive to succeed and progress, even by the poor, can work small wonders .

Speaking on Vision 2030 last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley warned: “As citizens, we must all appreciate that circumstances we now face require sacrifice and managed adjustment in our living standards.” We do face challenging times .

Life in Darjeeling depends a lot on the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway, a 50-mile train-line that, for over 100 years, crawls and twists its way up and around the rocky Himalayas .

Bought by the British East India Company from local landowners in 1835, Darjeeling’s trains, tea plantations, Buddhist culture and scenic, high-mountain location became a renowned tourist attraction. Here lives 45-year-old Seeta Cherki with five sons, having gotten married at 13. Her husband died nine years ago, leaving her with no other source of income .

As she explained, he was a railway porter, toting heavy bags and large boxes on his back while holding other items as he walked with bent gait up the hills — moreso during the tourist season. Seeta decided to take over his job — backbreaking work — competing with other male porters to provide for her family. The documentary showed how she carried all this load “like a man.” When asked why she felt she had to do this, she replied: “My first dream is education for my sons, the money is for this too.” Quite impressively, her five sons, aged eight to 16, looked clean and tidily-dressed, hair well-combed, etc. She saw to it .

Her moral authority had them dining together on evenings in a cramped but very clean and orderly kitchen. They all slept in one room .

Now, our country does have many single mothers and families whose ambitions also rose against all odds. Many media stories highlight these. So we too can do it. But Seeta’s story is so graphic, sad as much as inspiring .

Her ambition and that of her eldest son, Madoo, was to get into Darjeeling’s most prestigious university, St Joseph’s College. An ambition which in ordinary life was far beyond her poverty and meagre income. The university fee was 3,215 rupees. Her average income was 300 rupees a day .

Anyhow, to pay this fee, Seeta explained, was to remove almost all the money required to maintain her home and five sons .

Self-empowered, she decided to go and plead with the Principal for some relief. Sitting with her son before the principal, she said it was always her dream that at least one of her sons will get a university education. Please, let our dream come true, she pleaded with the principal. He agreed and a small wonder came her son’s way but her big dream came true .

And her son’s other ambition? He said his aim is to get a part-time job quickly so he can stop his mother from working. The kind of family culture which creates civil communities and the drive to succeed .

So while the debate over income, expenditure and debt ratings is happening upstairs, we cannot ignore the need for ambition and the desire to succeed downstairs — family culture at ground level .

This is where much of our country’s economic diversification could come from. This is how the renowned Protestant ethic — described as “need achievement” in social psychology — became an economic driver. The environment does affect attitudes. But the human spirit and attitudes to life can also transcend and change environments — a pressing imperative for former slaves and indentured labourers .