It was the year 2020, the world was in quarantine and all schools, colleges, and universities had switched to online mode. Kamla was a 16-year-old girl who lived in a small village in Maharashtra. Before the global pandemic, Kamla would go to school which was on the outskirts of her village. Although, since the classes were now online, she would need an electronic gadget in order to educate herself further. Kamla’s parents were really poor and could barely support their family, so investing in a mobile phone for online learning was not affordable for them.
Kamla was a very intelligent and bright girl, she was in fact the only person in her village who was literate. She would make it her responsibility that all the young children in her village knew how to write and speak correct English. However, now, with the new crisis in life, her learning had come to a halt.
One day, Kamla’s neighbour Leela mausi came up to her saying that she had not heard from her son who works in the city since the lockdown had started. The only postman who could help her to write letters to her son had gone back to his home village. She looked worried. It was that moment when an idea struck Kamla’s mind. The idea to connect the villagers to their near and dear ones through letters.
The next day she sent out word of mouth that whoever wanted to correspond with their loved ones could come to her. Within two days Kamla saw villagers lining up at her front door, and soon she was busy helping them reach out to their families through letters. She found true happiness in reading and writing messages for her friends and family. She got appreciation from the head of the village and applause from the villagers. She became a popular name in the neighbouring villages too.
Two years later once the lockdown was lifted, as an acknowledgment for the important role she played in these two years, Kamla was offered the post of the first postwoman in the village post office. She accepted the post with gratitude and is now supporting her higher education and family’s monetary needs. She found true happiness and purpose in her life.
As rightly quoted by Steve Jobs, "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do,” as it happened with Kamla. If you haven't found the purpose yet, keep looking… don't settle!
Truly yours,
Kamla
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