In the crevices of our sprawling metropolises, teeming with ambition and municipal chaos, some success stories quietly unfold—stories that don’t make headlines but keep alive the vibrancy of the human spirit. These are not tales of sudden rags-to-riches transformations or dramatic downfalls. They are about ordinary, unknown people who defy the limits of their circumstances and carve out new possibilities for themselves.

One such story played out within my own home.

In 1999, we hired a cook named Bimla. She moved into our staff quarters with her husband, Rakesh, and their two young children. Rakesh had come to Delhi some years earlier in search of work. He initially lived with his brother, a pujari, at a small temple. His role was menial: cleaning the temple and his brother’s house.

Bimla married at 18 and had her first child, Deepak, at 19. A few years later, she gave birth to Uma. But life in her in-laws’ home was unbearable. Her jethani (the husband’s elder brother’s wife) was cruel and exploitative, forcing........

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