 "Noor Jahan")
Noor Jahan's two-room house would be hard to spot in any landscape. There is no plaster on the red brick walls. Posters from elections past look like Band-Aid on them. The veranda has a thatched roof. Firewood is in use in the kitchen. A couple of goats are tethered outside.
The three plastic chairs placed outside her house, situated off the dusty Shivli Road in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat district, are the only sign of modernity. The anonymity of 60-something Noor Jahan transformed to a life less ordinary on November 29 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned her in "Mann Ki Baat", his radio address to the nation. Modi highlighted her contribution in lighting up houses in her village with solar lanterns.
Noor Jahan was going about the domestic chores when the news of the prime minister's address was broken to her. "At first, I thought it was a joke. But when people started arriving at my doorstep, I knew it was real," she says, particularly relishing the memory of when she was garlanded.
Noor Jahan of village Bairi Dariyav is associated with the women's self-help group, Jagriti Mahila Samuhh, which is supported by a local NGO called Shramik Bharti. The group has about 1,200 members in her district. For creating livelihood for the poor, the NGO provides solar lanterns to the members of its self-help group, and also installs solar panels at their homes to allow them to become micro entrepreneurs of sorts. The lanterns get charged during the day at these homes, and villagers in need can borrow the lanterns for use at night - all for Rs 100 a month.
Noor Jahan has 50 such solar lanterns that help her earn a steady income of about Rs 4,000 per month. Since power supply in the area is not only limited but also erratic, villagers from five adjoining villages have been taking these lanterns on rent. She has been a part of this initiative for about four years, which has helped her eke out a respectable living for her family of 14. The family owns a small piece of agricultural land, four goats and a buffalo.
Noor Jahan, who has been a widow for nearly two decades, presents an archetypal picture of an ordinary rural woman. Her frail body appears to struggle with this sudden fame. "Since Sunday, I have been unable to get proper sleep because of all the visitors," she says candidly.
When asked how she felt when Modi recalled her story, Noor Jahan coyly says that she obviously felt good about it. "I still wonder how the prime minister even knows my name."
However, what annoys her is that the visitors insist on clicking pictures inside the house. "They wear their shoes inside my house and I have to clean up the place once they leave," she says with a childish grin. Her five sons do not have regular jobs and get work now and then as manual labour or hair dressers. Her third son, Shamshad, helps her in charging and lending solar lanterns to villagers.
Jabreel, who runs a seed shop, is her regular customer. "You must also highlight the plight of this village. It lacks basic infrastructure such as a drainage system," he says passionately. Another villager, Suresh Chandra Sonkar, rents her solar lanterns, though he has a power connection at home. "The lantern provides a good backup during power outages. It helps my children study whenever they want," he explains.
The NGO does not charge anything from Noor Jahan from her monthly income except when lanterns need repair. "I keep about five lanterns for my personal use, since we do not have a power connection in our house," says Noor Jahan, flanked by her eldest son Nisar and his wife. Her fame notwithstanding, no state government official has met her or offered any help. This is her sole grouse in this moment of glory.
