ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Monbati Yadev

Monbati Yadev

I am 27. When I was little my father sold milk from our buffaloes and worked in other people's fields. He had to support five children and his parents. My father had studied up to third class and thought there was no reason to study if one could work. I never went to school. But with the help of my uncle, my youngest brother is now in college.

At home I gathered grass for animals, twigs for cooking, and cut rice in other people's fields. I would be so hungry sometimes I'd even take some uncooked rice, grind it and eat it quickly. I was married late, when I was 18, because we had no money. If there was a fair I had to borrow a sari from someone else. Only last year when I came to work at the center did I get my first pair of sandals.

After marriage I went to live with my husband and his three brothers and parents. There were 18 people in the house and I had more work than at my own house. But when I started painting at the center each day, the brothers said, "since you can't help with housework now, you should live separately." So now my three children and my husband live in a different hut in our compound and I cook only for us. My life has become much easier since working at the center. I have learned to read, and I have learned how to make art on paper because before I only painted on the walls of the house for Deepawali. I especially like making animal designs. At home we have a buffalo. Each day when I leave the center I cut grass and feed the buffalo before I cook for my family.