Mansi has a one-year-old sister and an eight-year-old brother. She herself is only fourteen years old. One of her sisters died at a younger age. This makes a family of five. The Eldest three of them live to work and work to live. Every day's earning is a matter of life and more life. Every day counts as the wage amount of each one of them is the bare minimum. Yet, they ensure that Mansi and her brother are going to school. Mansi is not sure how long will she continue. She may drop out of school as the one-year-old child is to be taken care of. While everyone has to be away, someone has to be with him. At times, he is dropped in the neighborhood. At times, he is taken to work by her mother but it hampers her work and she is also scolded for it.
Mansi's father is a rickshaw puller. He works in the city, often going in the morning as he has got the job of sending school children in his rickshaw. When he comes back, he would do his basic routine and prepares for the long toiling day ahead. He would park his rickshaw near the city market. It is closer to the school and that's where most customers are. His wages fluctuate the most.
Mansi's mother is a household worker like her. Yet she is an all-rounder. She cleans houses and used utensils, cooks food, brings errands from the market, and at request also works as a child carer. She works both shifts. She runs out of the house in the morning, comes back in the afternoon and cooks food in the home, feeds her one-year-old baby, rest a bit, and runs back to complete the evening shift. She works in the nearby societies so that she could be home sooner and whenever she wants to.
For Mansi, it is her parents who work with utter devotion that motivates her. She understands how they lack money, good living space, quality healthcare, and education. She has seen students in school uniforms and going in school buses. For people who have the opportunity, she often compares them with herself in her mind. She thinks that if given all those opportunities, she would do wonders and the city would be proud of her.
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