Meeting Lucknow’s Malti
Malti (centre)
It’s when we decided that the best way to explore India’s Nawabi city, Lucknow was by traveling in the long and unusual looking auto rickshaw, that our eyes first fell on Malti. The fiery, redhead is hard to miss. Her electric auto rickshaw was our ride on several occasions in the four days that we spent in the city. The lines on her head made her look older, camouflaging the fact that she was just about my age. A single parent, she was working really hard to ensure a fitting education for her 15-year-old son. Malti’s parents got her married immediately after she played state level hockey for the first time. “People would bet on the number of goals I would score when I played for the Northern Railways. I was pretty good,” she told me, her eyes lighting up at the memory. While showing me her strong calf muscles, she continued to talk about what followed.
Post her wedding, she got beaten up by her husband and harassed by her in laws. She mustered courage and left that home forever. Today, she lives with her parents and drives the auto rickshaw in Lucknow, which is very much a man’s turf.
I was witness to the kind of looks she gets when she’s riding. Some amused, some filled with contempt and some just lustful. I can’t even begin to imagine her #MeToo stories. She seems unfazed though. When my mom asked her about it, she spoke of how just two days ago, a drunk army man who was a passenger, misbehaved. “I won’t stop riding because of them,” she said firmly.
A day before we left Lucknow, Malti’s son got selected for the Under 14 railway hockey team. She insisted that we celebrate with some chaat.
Meeting her was special. Apart from being great at what she does -riding well, being familiar with every nook and cranny of the city and being punctual, she was also very observant. After observing the kind of things we liked doing, saw, ate or bought on the first day, she made some thoughtful recommendations later. She was also warm and mindful of my mom who has trouble walking long distances.