Chennai: Playing roles of a homemaker, a beautician, a cosmetology teacher and a social activist, J Tamilselvi is a woman with several feathers in her cap.
Her house in Adambakkam is buzzing with local people right from the morning as she is their go-to-person. "Be it doubts related to Aadhaar card or issues with their pension and monthly ration or any help needed, residents in my locality approach me. I am a typical housewife, but I donned the role of a social activist because I find satisfaction helping others," she told Deccan Chronicle.
"I know that women go to work, or are housewives, but I wanted to be a social activist, an interest that I got by reading the stories on Mother Teresa," said Tamilselvi.
At the age of 18, she started working at an old age home which increased her interest in social activities. She studied cosmetology and gives training to deaf and mute students in the same. "These trained students are working at my beauty parlour," she said.
The sole woman in Adambakkam Federation, a committee formed by the residents of Adambakkam, she is also the secretary of TNGO Colony in Adambakkam, where she resides.
"Being the only woman in the Adambakkam Federation along with 44 male members, I find it difficult to raise questions among the men," she said. "Men do not accept women as social workers. Their view is that this woman has no work or there is no one to control her at home."
She doesn't shy from visiting government offices on behalf of residents of her colony. Due to her proactive nature, she commands respect and love from the residents.
"Social work is not only helping the orphans. If something happens next door and you are able to do a bit to help them, then even that is social work," said Tamilselvi. She said that she loses her privacy, but still is happy to help others.
(Inputs from Amirtha VK)
