For Jyoti and Neha, things became tough very early on in life. So much that they had to hide their gender from people for 4 long years.
Their father, who ran a barber shop in the village, fell ill in 2014 and couldn’t continue going to work.
This stopped the influx of money altogether and someone from the family had to step up. It was the girls.
But their willingness to work as barbers couldn’t help because men would be skeptical of getting a cut from them.
Merely 13 and 11 at that time, they decided to cut their hair short, acted like boys and gave themselves names- Deepak and Raju, so that they don’t lose customers.
The two have been keeping their family afloat for a long time, now, while also completing their education.
In a report by The Guardian, the younger sister Neha said:
We faced a lot of troubles when we started the job in 2014. Others in the village mocked us but we ignored them and focused on work, since we had no other option.
Recently, their story was published in a local newspaper, which brought their sacrifice to notice and got them an award from the government.
4 years on, the customers have developed faith in girls and most of them appreciate their efforts.