Haldwani: Known as Iron Lady in the area, Kamla Negi, a tyre-repair shop owner in the Nainital district, is breaking the stereotypes and inspiring many other women like herself. A resident of Ramgarh block Odakhan here, Negi can repair anything from a bicycle puncture to the puncture of a tire of a JCB machine. Although women of the mountain have always matched their male counterparts in the professional domain, this woman has raised the bars even higher with the profession she chose.
54-year-old Kamala Negi has been fixing tyre punctures in small and big vehicles for the last 15 years. She said that she started working back in 2004. She initially used to give out bicycles for rent to children, and gradually started repairing cycle tires and learned to repair tyres of all the vehicles like scooters and motorcycles thereafter. Over time, she mastered repairing even the huge vehicle tyres and today, she can do it single-handedly.
Kamla now does her work like an expert and has even extended her services to bike and car servicing. With her shop located on Ramgarh-Mukteshwar road in Odakhan, Kamala runs it along with her sister and daughter. The women make good money from the business as there is no tyre puncture shop within a vicinity of 25 km distance around. The shop remains open seven days a week and also attracts several tourists for the uniqueness of its owners.
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Kamla also struggled a lot in the initial years. She was taunted and made fun of for the kind of work she does. However, her husband and children have been supportive of her venture. Her daughter is happily married to an army personnel today, while her husband is a horticulture farmer. As Kamla succeeded in her work over time, several social organisations honoured her and derived inspiration from her journey. Kamla Devi is today associated with several women's organisations and continues to inspire many other women like herself.
People have given Kamla several names out of respect for her and the work she does. Some call her the 'iron lady', some others call her the 'tyre doctor', while some simply call her Kamla Didi or Kamla Devi out of respect.
