This is the third painting in the working women series. And to date, this was the most challenging.

I had set out to bring the invisible working women of Mumbai to the limelight. It was a foolishly evangelical endeavor, which assumed that I could see them and it was my duty to make the world see them.

This painting shattered that smug assumption. This woman had photobombed a pic I had taken a few years ago. She was bang in the middle of the frame, but I seem to have completely missed her.

I realized that the journey was for me to discover all the women who work. When I was younger, I used to disdain women who chose not to work, women who never thought economic independence was necessary.

As the years rolled on and maturity has had time to grow, I realize it is “not the people but the context that is sick,” to quote Dr. Samah Jabr, Head of Mental Health in Palestine.

And I have renewed admiration and awe of women who are so strong to rise above it with dignity and hope. Like this homeless balloon seller.

To quote another great (albeit fictional) personality, Atticus Finch: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”