Meet Rani

Rani works at Ajay auyervedic massage hut on the beach. She is from Goa and has been a massage therapist for 5 years now. She too is 49 years old but we have lead very different lives. She is a mother of three boys and grandma to two children from her eldest son. She had an arranged marriage at 18 and had her first child by 19 and has until now had always been a housewife and mother. Rani’s husband works in Mumbai and has worked away from home for most of their married life. After her last son was married she felt that she wanted to do some work to make her own income and not just stay home anymore. She heard that doing massage gave a good income and felt she would like to work with ladies. So she undertook a course and started work doing massage for the tourist ladies in Goa. She gives a great massage and has that motherly caring touch. Of course she wants to chat with all her clients and she was very interested in the fact that I am not married or had no boyfriend. Older Indian people are always amazed at me travelling alone with no kids or husband.  So I joked with Rani and say things such as; “no husband no problem,” or “free life is best life,” which are all things that Indian’s have said to me over the years. Anyway we had a good laugh and she admitted that now she too feels that she has “a freedom life” and that with her husband gone most of the time she had been very independent throughout her marriage as well. So once I got to know Rani we found that our situations are not that different after all; we are both relatively independent women with few responsibilities, able to enjoy our freedom because for now have no men to tend too.