Monsoon Mondays are, thus, tricky for Sisa.Lack of connectivity and absence of boats means she has to swim across the Maliguda, a tributary of the Godavari, after a 1-km trek through a dense, hilly forest to attend to her duties as an Anganwadi worker.
The 28-year-old arrived drenched – barefoot, empty pots tightly roped around her waist to substitute as floaters and a dry pair of dry clothes wrapped in a plastic bag.Sisa said she has been doing this for the last 10 years, and there seems to be no end in sight.
“There is a road to reach another village close by, but it is an additional 15-km ride.When it is not raining, the water in the river is at least waist deep and we manage to walk through.
But the monsoon is a difficult period,” she said.
During the rainy season, she prefers to stay back in the village to avoid crossing the river every day.She sleeps and cooks at the village Anganwadi center before returning home to her daughters, aged five and two, for the weekend.“There have been incidents of people being swept away, so we avoid swimming across every day,” she said.
“It can be even more dangerous in the dark while returning home.
