Woman for whom work is worship

By Abid Mehdi

SIALKOT: Hard work and iron will are the secrets of the ‘successful life’ of Siraj Bibi, a 119-year-old resident of border-area Kingra village, who still loves to do her chores with her own hands.

“The will to work instills energy in my body and I remain active even at this age,” she told this correspondent. “I get up early in the morning, sweep the courtyard of my house, cut fodder for cattle and do many more things.”

All these chores, she said, had become an integral part of her life. “The idea of sitting idle even at this age seems like waiting for death,” said Siraj Bibi who also serves meals to her family.

“The secret of my happiness is that I have always tried to make others happy. After saying ‘Fajr’ prayers, I visit the only market in the village and kiss the foreheads of the shopkeepers as if they all are my sons — my dear ones.”

She has memories of the British Raj days which, according to her, were good in terms of safety. “Life and property of every one was safe in those days,” she said.

Siraj Bibi was born in 1890 at the house of Laldin in the neighbouring Occupied Jammu & Kashmir’s Chimneywali village. She recalled the painful memories of her five brothers and their wives being killed by the Sikhs at the time of partition.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/24/2009