Photography, Poetry

The Sweeper Woman of Jaipur

A Literary Impulse Challenge

She turned away, not wanting her photo taken, dark eyes hiding, and inquiring, in equal parts, the sweeper woman of Jaipur.

Later, from a balcony I caught her. A moment of repose. And I snapped that photo anyways.

An emotion frozen in time. A woman freed from the confines of her culture, her face uncovered, bare to the sun.

Later, the guilt crept in. Did she believe I was trying to steal some part of her soul?

But I don’t think that was really what made her fearful.

It wasn't the photo, but, rather, the rules of her world which kept her hiding behind her dupatta.

It’s a question of morality, I suppose, whether I should have taken that photo.

I have to confess though that I’ve thought of it often since that afternoon.

And it’s probably true that I’ve stolen a sliver of her essence. And equally so that she’s stolen back a slice of mine as well.

This poem was inspired by Literary Impulse’s prompt The Blue City, based on the artwork by Lubna Yusuf. Although the original photo was about the city of Chefchaouen, I was brought back to my visits to another blue city, Jodhpur, India and to the pink city of Jaipur.

In this part of India, Rajasthan, women are commonly required to cover their faces. They will often throw their dupatta, or scarf, over themselves when they realize that they are being watched. I will always remember eating dinner in the home of a family in this region. The wife was not even allowed to let her father-in-law see her face. She kept uncovering it to talk to us, then covering it back up again to converse with him. It seemed exhausting.

I saw this woman in yellow, sweeping with a rustic broom, at the palace in Jaipur. She initially covered her face when she saw my husband and I. But later, I caught sight of her again from a balcony. I had a moment of angst, and then I shot the photo anyways. I feel like it captured a moment of freedom for her, a moment when she could turn her face to the sun. And I have thought of that photo, and of all of the women, like her, living in this part of the world so often since then.

Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).

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Story and photos © Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.

The original prompt can be found here:

You might also enjoy some of the other photos by such talented artists as:

Paroma Sen, William J Spirdione, Jenine Bsharah Baines, Iva Hotko, Harry Stefanakis, Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar and several others who participated.