This particular puncture repair shop receives a surprised gaze of the passers-by. “It seems a surprise to everyone that a woman is fixing punctures,” said Tarannum, 37, while mending a puncture on the wheel of a Scooty.

Tarannum is a name of some reckoning in Jankipuram area of Lucknow today. People will readily guide you to her shop as soon as you mention her name.

Tarannum not only learnt the skills of puncture repairing by challenging the work of men but also made a unique identity of her name in Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow.

“I could not bear to see my children crying after small needs. These hands had held a wrench and hammer 23 years ago and have been working to fix punctures till today. I did not come to sweep the houses of others,” said Taranum, showing her tools. “My husband did the same thing and I also learnt to do it.”

Scrawny Tarannum quickly undoes the wheel of the vehicle and deftly removes the tube from the wheel thereby patching up the puncture. This is her chief source of livelihood.

“I don’t remember when was the last time I put henna upon in these hands,” soaking the tubes in water, Tarannum said. “I fix punctures so that my children get a better life.”

Tarannum originally hails from Gangapurwa, about 30 kms away from Sitapur district headquarters in Uttar Pradesh. She has two sons and a daughter. The eldest son and daughter have been married.

“I had always desired to keep my children away from the life such as I have undergone. In this effort, I have married my daughter into a good family,” said Tarannum.

Born in a poor family, Tarannum was married at the age of 15. After the marriage, her husband kept mostly sick. It had become difficult to support her three children out of her husband’s puncture shop. This was the time when Tarannum also had to take up some work.

“I could not do the cleaning in the houses of others, so I decided to take up my husband’s occupation. I learnt to mend punctures at my husband’s shop. It was difficult to take this decision, but it was made for the sake of the children,” she said.

Even today, when women resolve to do the work of men, it is not considered good by the male-dominated society, same happened with Tarannum too.

“People used to talk a lot of nonsense. Somebody said that since I did not want to do my housework, I have shamed myself to come to the road. Poverty makes you endure everything,” she said.  

Tarannum had always been taunted or encouraged by someone or the other over the years, but there had not been much change in her life. Although she managed to get an identity, the condition of her house was still far from being improved.

“The children could not be educated much. It is a great feat to have two square meals a day at the moment. There is now a shop on every nook and corner,” said Tarannum, putting air in the Scooty tyre. “There is not much income. It is simply that we don’t go hungry anymore.”

Tarannum can mend punctures from bicycles to trucks. she also undertakes paintings. At the age when women indulge in their looks, Tarannum had begun mending punctures and working with iron tools.

“Sometimes when some men bring their women to my shop to meet me, it fills me with pride. They also say, ‘Look what a good work she is doing.”

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3