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Malli Rani - The Torchbearer of many lives

“The corporate world thrives on leadership skills, and you know, they drill us employees with courses on how to lead a team efficiently and democratically”, said my brother, who is hunting for a job and was on his laptop, looking for a course online on this hot skill, so he could highlight his interest and awareness on the same in his resume. “These career counselors right,” he continued, “...obsess over adding “inspiring” and “motivating leader” as high-impact terms in resumes. So, the desire to either lead or be led by a qualified leader is something that is highly sought-after.”

I listened to him as I blew into my tumbler of hot, aromatic chai and saw Rani opening the gate of our house. She delivers a few muzhams of mallipoo every Thursday evening, given that we perform a slightly more elaborate pooja on Fridays and also place some malli garlands on the photographs of our late grandparents in their fond memory. Rani is a fairly young girl in her twenties, who recently gave birth to her son and her husband works for the municipality. Amma and I always wait for her to come home, as she always narrates interesting things that happened to her that week. We are particularly fond of her gushing speech and admire her outlook in life, despite the fact that she cannot see the world as we can. She became visually impaired a couple of years ago in a terrible accident, while she was carrying a sack of mallipoo and tried to quickly cross the street before the signal turned red. It was very unfortunate that she got hit by a vehicle but still manages to see it as an episode that was meant to teach her the value of patience and carefulness in life.

he weather seemed like it would rain anytime, so Rani sat down on the verandah and handed over our malli. Amma went in to bring her a cup of chai and some pakodas she made and I sat down next to her and opened her big sack of mallipoo garlands and asked her, what this flower means to her. Rani was surprised by this question and said that though her entire livelihood revolves around this pretty flower, she has never spoken about what it means to her, to anyone. Amma joined us and as Rani sipped on her chai, she said she was enchanted by this flower when she was young, as her mother too, was a malli hawker. As a single parent, Rani’s mother had a lot of loans to repay and mallipoo was her only ray of hope, which earned them respect and their everyday food. It started to drizzle and as we dug into the pakodas, we listened to Rani narrate what her mother told her- “There are so many flowers, but there is something unique about malli. It is not just a flower that is appealing to the eyes, I also feel a strong connection with it. It is hard to explain, but I see malli as my guide in life. It feels like she holds my hand and leads me, even on days I feel exhausted. It has given me the motivation to survive every day by giving me an income and you would not believe this, I talk to the malli, while I wait for customers. Neither do I have any friends, nor do I have the luxury of time for all that. You do know how I run from pillar to post throughout the day, right? So I have befriended malli, and I tell her my dreams on days when I am happy and vent to her when times are tough. She is such a good listener! She has seen me evolve from a desperate 19-year-old widow to a 39-year-old contented woman, who knows she has raised her daughter with basic education and good manners. If at all I wish for something, it would not be that I would like to see you doing a “better” job, because I know how privileged it is to be associated with the malli rani. Valli, who sells fruits next to our stall aspires to see her daughter as an engineer but I would be filled with utmost pride to see you selling malli. If I have endured life’s hurdles, matured, and grown stronger over the years, it is because of the sweet fragrance through which malli has constantly spoken to me and told me that I too, can surge ahead in life. Likewise, if you are blessed, you too will learn from this malli rani, dearest Rani!”

Rani paused, smiled and listened to the drizzle weakening, and said, “...that was the day I knew it is an honor to be around this flower day in and out. The accident did upset me and made me think that life was unfair, but this little, fair flower helped me realize that my mother would not be proud of me to see me give up on life so easily when the two of us had faced tougher times. Malli, to me, is the ultimate rani- charismatic, empowering, and an inspiring leader”

The clouds had cleared by then and she got up to pick her sack up and leave for the next house. Amma walked in, collecting our tumblers and plates and I was sitting there, looking at my brother, who was listening to Rani all this while, trying to search for a good leadership course simultaneously. Both of us smiled at each other, realizing that there could never be a better course on leadership than what malli rani, the finest leader could do, to steer and uplift so many people’s lives. She acts as their Ted Talk and creates a livelihood for them so they can provide for their families. Having the power to empower, Malli rani is a true leader, who motivates people to take charge of their lives to gain a sense of purpose and identity of their own.