The women pourakarmikas in Mysuru city traded their brooms for bows and arrows as part of an archery programme held on Monday.

About 40 women pourakarmikas participated in the archery programme organised by the Tiger Adventure Foundation in collaboration with Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) at Seervi Samaj on KRS road in Mysuru on Monday as part of International Women’s Day and Swacch Survekshan.

Regional Commissioner of Mysuru, Nitesh Patil inaugurated the programme by taking up the bow himself and shooting an arrow. Commissioner of MCC, Sheikh Tanveer Asif, who was also present on the occasion, hoped that many such programmes would be conducted in future 

Dhanalakshmi, a pourakarmika, said she had seen archery only in television serials like Mahabharat and Ramayana. “Never in my dreams did I imagine I would be holding a bow and launching an arrow,” she was quoted as saying in a statement shared by the organisers.

The programme concluded with a formal felicitation ceremony to honour the women Pourkarmikas for their vital role in Mysuru’s cleanliness. Veena Ashok, an amateur cyclist from Mysuru, presented each with a rose, a shalia (shawl), a thank-you card, and a certificate, recognising their “commendable and tireless” efforts in maintaining the city’s status as a leading clean city, the statement issued by the organisers said.

D.S.D Solanki, an adventure sports enthusiast, who was part of the organisers, said the archery programme gave the pourakarmikas, who often remain in the shadows of the very streets they clean, an opportunity to “break the cycle of invisibility” 

“Their work is gruelling and often thankless. Some take to the streets with brooms to sweep the endless lanes and by-lanes, while others hop onto autos to collect the refuse of thousands of households. Despite being the “mantle-bearers” of public health, their services are rarely acknowledged by the society they serve,” said the organisers in a statement.