Rearing through day-to-day hardships, she has walked miles to weave the dreams of her family—via silk. Today, 70-year-old Malik Noor is an inspiration for her family and an icon of women empowerment in her area.
Ms. Noor, born and brought up in an economically backward family, was married at the age of 20 to Saed Wali Mir, a laborer by profession. The couple gave birth to five daughters and a son. Though, somewhere along, her husband’s health started deteriorating gradually. “He became mentally unstable and lost the ability to work outside of home.
With the paralyzed income of family, Ms. Noor took the responsibility on her own shoulders and joined her fellow villagers in the silk-rearing business wherein silkworms are cultivated to produce silk. “It was easy to work from home.
However, after her husband’s untimely illness, Ms. Noor had to face another tragedy—the death of her three daughters, two of them died due to chickenpox at the mere age of 5 and 3-months-old as Noor was not able to buy medicines.. Unaware of infections, and viral diseases, the family couldn’t figure a way out when their third daughter – 7-years-old, fell ill in 1978, she soon succumbed.
“I could only give my children do waqt ki roti (meal for two times) but not education,” Noor said regretfully.
Sidelining every problem, Ms. Noor worked to get her family back on track. Waking up early in the morning, without eating anything at all, she would walk till noon in the scorching heat to get mulberry leaves for silkworms—focusing entirely on establishing a livelihood.
Back then, working for at least twelve hours a day, she only aimed to improve her business, the only source of income for her family.
At the entrance of her two-storey brick-home in Chittybandi, Ms. Noor has grown mulberry trees on a small patch of land to feed the silkworm. Today, the aged woman walks tirelessly for two-to-three kilometers every day to get extra mulberry leaves.
Sitting in her hall, she delicately cleans the bunch of cocoons spread in front of her on a bamboo tray. “One needs to take proper care of these worms and save them from insects and birds,” she said. “I have to keep a vigil on them.”
Ms. Noor, who once used to starve for days, flipped her own destiny and earned a profit of 60,000 rupees in merely fifteen days, a few months ago. “The payment brings happiness every time,” she said.
However, Ms. Noor has been into this for ages now, but she has never seen a silk cloth in her life. “I know that silk is one of the most expensive materials in the world, and have heard from people that it is beautiful,” Ms. Noor said. “But, I cannot afford it.”
While making sure that the eggs are kept under suitable temperature and humidity, she is thankful to “the art and science of silk-rearing” that has made her realize the beauty of nature.
She waits for the cocoons to dry completely so that she could sell it in the market. The price of a cocoon depends upon its quality and its purity. It has the potential to earn profit in lakhs. “A few months ago, we produced eighty kilograms of cocoons with 80,000 rupees price,” she added. With the money, she hopes to buy new things for the home.
Ms. Noor’s life was full of struggles and hardships, wherein she also thought of giving up many times, but she always remained patient.
“If you have enough patience, one day you will yield its fruit or maybe a cocoon,” noor says.
She is a true example of women empowerment and today inspiring many women around her. She also showed a new sector “sericulture” to the women of Kashmir which they can take up as a full time job and run their family expenses at their own. We salute her hardwork and patience.
