There was once this little girl in my neighborhood, Radha. She would have been about 8 or 9 at the time and would always be seen with her baby brother Raju behind her. Their mother used to work in a nearby factory to take care of the family, as the father had abandoned them a while back. 

Radha used to come to our house once in a while to play with our dog Ritz, of course Raju in tow. She would be dressed in old clothes – tee shirts, shorts, skirts, even a torn half saree at one time, all donated by the affluent folks around. But no matter what she always used to wear lots of different bangles. Ritz would know she was coming from far away by the sound of her bangles and get all excited. They used to play for hours together.

One day I noticed Ritz lying on the floor looking sad and then I realized that Radha hadn’t come to play with him for a while now. Thinking she may have finally started going to school or something, I ignored it. In the next couple of days, Ritz became more and more silent and even stopped eating. This got me worried.

The next morning, I set off to find Radha’s house. After searching the neighborhood for about an hour, I finally found it; an old house with mud walls and a thatched roof. Though nobody seemed to be inside, as the door was ajar I ventured in calling out for Radha.

There on an old coir woven cot lay a frail woman, coughing and breathing laboriously. Seeing me she tried to sit upright but couldn’t summon the strength. “Radha’s mother?”, I asked. She nodded and called out for Raju who came running from the next room. A smile on his face he asked, “Didn’t you bring Ritz?”. “No, he’s a little sick”, I said, ” and I came looking for Radha and you to see if you could come over to cheer him up a bit”.

Raju looked at his mother who sighed deeply and said, “I’ll ask Radha to come visit when she is back from work”. I was shocked, “Work?, I thought she was going to school. What is she… Where does she work?”. With a deep sigh the lady spoke, “I got sick working at the factory making glass bangles all day. The doctor says it is severe and I should not work anymore. But I have a family to feed, what will I do sir? The supervisor let me take a long leave from work on one condition: let Radha work in my place.”

I couldn’t even digest it for a minute. I slowly turned back, got out of the house and started walking. It was raining then and by the time I got to the factory, I was fully drenched. The place was more of a large shed than an actual factory. Women of all ages were working there – some at the furnace, some at the roller and some working on polishing and sticking glitter on the bangles. 

My eyes soon found Radha; with a long broom she was sweeping the floor and collecting broken bangles. And for the first time since I saw her, Radha’s wrists were bare.