There’s no doubt that women in India have proven that their true strength lies in their willingness to make a difference. Women know how to make the smallest opportunity turn into a historic milestone. Their indomitable courage and resilience have made them fight any daunting situation. And Bengaluru-based Bhavya Sharma is one of those inspiring females who is redefining women’s identity in India. A mother of a 10-year-old girl, Bhavya lost her husband in an accident in 2021 when her world turned upside-down. Her daughter was merely eight years when the entire responsibility to run the house and raise the child came upon her.
“My life changed completely. I had no time to mourn my husband’s death. My daughter is too young and I am the only person to take care of her education and home,” says Bhavya, who is India’s first RO technician to make a difference in the field that has been male-dominated for years. “I never worked before. I used to see my husband doing the repair work so I knew something about it. But I was never trained to do the job. I never thought of working before but then the time changed and now I take care of everything,” adds the 32-year-old, who partnered with Urban Company for the job after her husband’s demise, who also worked as an RO technician with the company. “I told them that they can take my test and if they find me suitable, they can offer me a job.”
Breaking stereotypes
While Bhavya finds utmost confidence in her job, many customers, she says, don’t trust she could do the job. “They ask if I can do that because they never saw a woman doing this job. RO weighs about 20 kg. People ask me if I can take that down. It’s very heavy and repairing it is not an easy job,” she says. She further expresses that women customers encourage her to continue while her in-laws are still not convinced about her job and often discourage her.
“They asked me not to do this job but I continued. I don’t care about it anymore. I have to run the house, pay rent and pay my daughter’s school fees. My relatives and in-laws are not happy and tell me to leave everything. But then what will I do?” asks Bhavya who insists that she wants her daughter to study and do well in her life.
Not without my daughter
With a small rented apartment in Bengaluru as her home, Bhavya also runs a paying guest facility for girls. She says her husband and she used to run that together. “After my husband died, I got an insurance amount and bought a bigger space for PG. Before I started working as a technician, PG was the only source of income in the house. After I started working as an RO technician, I expanded the PG business and now I have a bigger space than before,” she shares and adds that she follows a full-day job while her daughter is at school or at her sister’s home. “I drop my daughter at her school in the morning and then go to work. I pick her up on my way back home in the evening from my sister's place. She is too young. She is happy when she is around other kids. On average I work about seven hours a day.”
As of now, Bhavya makes ends meet comfortably and wants to inspire other women to be RO technicians. She also shares that women and men feel surprised when they get to know about her job. “It’s not a regular job. I haven’t come across any woman as an RO technician. I feel more confident now since I take all the decisions whether they are right or wrong. I hope my daughter does well in her life. I have learnt that every woman needs to fight her own challenges and there's nothing that they can't do” says Bhavya in conclusion.
