Namaste. I am Mitali Rathod. I am 11-year old and studying in Standard VII at Shri Pritamlal Majmundar Nagar Prathmik Shala, Gujarat.

I lost my father at the age of four. Giaben Rathod, my mother has been taking care of my sister and me since then. She earns the livelihood by working as a handmade cotton mattress maker in the city. 

If only it were that simple!

Looking over her glasses, all the while concentrating on her sewing machine, stitching a new mattress cover – sometimes my mother says, ‘I wish I could own a little shop and sell the most comfortable mattresses yet.’ We stay in a kuccha house and lying down beside my mother and sister at the end of the day relieves me of all the tiredness. 

Day in and out I see my mother struggling to make the ends meet. Quietly, I admire and learn from her strong will power and dedication towards work. Her enthusiasm has encouraged me to harbour a dream – a dream to become an award-winning designer in the mattress industry. The more comfortably we sleep, the better we dream, and wake up fresh to make it a reality. So, I feel that by being a designer of mattresses, I would create and sell dreams.        

I like going to school very much. More, because the school serves free and tasty school lunches from Akshaya Patra. And, I never miss it. Khichdi and sabzi are my favourite mid-day meals. We need it the most on days when mother has to leave home early in search of work.