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Mystery woman keeps Railway Station clean in Maddur

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Maddur: A woman who speaks to no one keeps the railway station here spic-and-span.

When the 65-year-old speaks at all, it is to herself, and in Marathi. That has earned her the moniker of ‘Marathi Amma’.

For 15 years, she has swept and scrubbed the platforms clean, working from dawn to dusk.

Her day begins at 4 am. After a bath in a nearby canal, she starts cleaning the three platforms.

“She plunges into the job headlong and keeps at it till she is satisfied, sometimes all through the day,” says

M Nagaraj, a Government Railway Police (GRP) constable. She also clears the shrubs along the tracks and carries the waste in the fold of her sari before dumping it in the trash can.

Marathi Amma does all the hard work without expecting anything in return. “She does not ask anyone for money or food or anything at all,” says Maileshaiah, one of Maddur’s four station masters.

Railway staff and policemen offer her `5 or `10 once in a while, and she accepts it quietly. Her only other compensation is that the railway staff hand her some wheat or rice that spills during unloading. Maddur is a key point for the grain trade.

“The station definitely needs her. She does 90 per cent of the cleaning here,” says Maileshaiah.

Two other cleaners work on contract, but Marathi Amma is considered the most important worker around.

H S Raghupathy, station master at Maddur from 2010 to 2013, used to give her a minimum of `50 a day from his pocket.

“Whenever there is a crowd, Amma gets agitated and behaves irrationally, sometimes pelting stones,” says Maniyaiah, another station master.

Some of the railway staff refer to her as ‘mental’.

But she has won many hearts. “I’ve seen her here from the metre gauge days,” says Nagaraj, a canteen employee.

The Bengaluru-Mysuru line that runs through Maddur was laid in 1882. The conversion from metre to broad gauge was budgeted in 1978 and completed in 1992.

Marathi Amma’s immediate family is well placed, according to Maniyaiah. “They came by car one day to take her along, but she refused to go with them,” he said.

The lean-built Marathi Amma chooses to be by herself and does not show any interest in communicating with anyone.

On the rare occasions that she speaks with others or talks aloud, no one understands her language.

Attempts by this reporter to draw her into a conversation went in vain.

Her only outing is to a shop some distance from the station, where she buys milk, tea and betel leaves by just pointing at them.

At night, she sleeps on Platform 1 outside the police post. If it rains, she moves to Platform 2 or 3, which are covered. GRP cops, who usually shoo away people loitering at the station, respect her. “If anyone is a nuisance, we drive them out. She is really useful around here,” a policeman said.

Marathi Amma is dignified and self-respecting. “She will not take money or food from strangers but only from those she knows for years,” the policeman said.

Her belongings, comprising a few clothes and odds and ends, are all placed in a corner on Platform 1. She has built a tiny shelter with plastic sheets outside the station, which she zealously guards. It only has space to sit. She cooks her food outside the shelter, using firewood.

Marathi Amma was handed over to government-run homes twice, but returned to the station. Now, no one wants her to leave.

 

 

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