“Train wheels get worn out while running and need repairing every 18 months,” says Shivani Shivraj Kumar (41), as she repairs the wheel of a local train at Matunga Railway Workshop. Shivani is the only female machinist in the entirety of the Indian railways. A semi-educated Marathi Christian Mulagi, who became a widow at the age of 19, Shivani has broken all societal barriers in life’s second innings. Shivani joined the Central Railway as a sweeper after her husband’s demise.
“The railways gave me the sweeper’s job on compensatory ground after my first husband’s death. I was just 20, and a mother of a two-year-old son and a nine-month-old daughter. With little education, I couldn’t expect much,” said a teary-eyed Shivani. Within a year she was promoted to the khalasi (or peon) post, thanks to her hard work.
“My work was to break coal which was mainly done by men,” said Shivani who worked as a peon for the next 12 years. She earned a lot of respect from others in the department, including one man, Shivraj Kumar. He proposed marriage, which she accepted after much persuasion. “It was a very bold step then,” remembers Shivani. “I was a Christian and he a Hindu. Now I think, had Shivraj not been there with me, I don’t know if I could have brought up my kids in the same way.” Her daughter is doing her Masters in Computer Applications, and her son is employed as a teacher.
She was offered the machinist post in the ‘wheel shop’ 10 years ago. The offer surprised everyone as till then only men were handling this job. “I was not ready as the work was technical and tougher. But my hubby encouraged me, saying, Shivani, believe in yourself, you can do anything in the world. Then I thought if I will deny the job, no other woman will ever come forward to prove herself,” Shivani reveals proudly.
Ecstatic to participate in the Stayfree DNA I Can Half Marathon along with her daughter, Shivani says, “Women are not weaker than men. We eat so much, so what is the problem? Women are here to go ahead of men.”
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