Women's Day Special: The cog in the railways' wheel

Shivani Kumar is standing close to a machine that’s very hot. And there’s the annoying sound of screeching wheels and scrunching metal at the Matunga railway workshop.

But it seems that Kumar has blinkers and earplugs on. The 42-year-old is monitoring the repair of train wheels and getting the scrap removed every few seconds. The slightest distraction can be fatal.

For Kumar, the Indian Railways’ only woman machinist,  it’s just another workday. “Eleven years down the line, I can say with authority that a woman can do everything a man can,” she says.

She had her reservations when she started off in an all-male department. “But the transition was extremely comfortable and smooth. My colleagues’ tremendous support overwhelmed me.”

Kumar was married at 16, but lost her husband, who worked with the railways, four years later. She accepted her husband’s job on compensatory grounds. It was here that she fell in love with a colleague, who she married. She has three children. The youngest child is now in Class IX, the eldest is a teacher and her daughter has completed her MCA.