“The skill and the life lessons I learned from father helped me get by through this life. Though for generations, we could not acquire land, I was able to earn a living. As things changed, as society moved forward, the places once abandoned to forests started becoming towns, shops started to flourish and people started coming looking for services in these little town. Today, I do not have to visit households looking for work. I have a shop where people come with their clothes. My children are able to go to school alongside the children of the people who demand respect for the caste they were born in. And that is ok. I never begged, I worked hard and my skills with needles and threads have provided a service to the community. I keep my head high, and for me to lose my self pride would also mean to losing meaning of the very simple life I live.”