At 70, this Kolkata woman works in homes to care for her visually impaired children

An Instagram video has brought focus on a 70-year-old house help who supports her two visually impaired children. The post has shown the years of care, hard work and the family's lack of support.An elderly Kolkata woman works as a house help to support her blind children. (Photos: Instagram/aradhanachatterjee)At 70, when many people might hope for a quieter life, Karuna Ghosh still gets up each day to work. For four decades, she has been a house help, carrying not just the weight of her job but also the responsibility of caring for two children who have been visually impaired since birth.Ghosh’s story was recently shared on Instagram by content creator Aradhana Chatterjee, who spoke about the elderly woman’s life and the sacrifices she has continued to make for her family.Ghosh’s daughter is now 50 and her son is 40. Both have lived with visual impairment since birth. Yet, despite being in her seventies, Ghosh continues to work in three different homes as a domestic worker, with the money she earns barely enough to meet the family’s everyday needs.“Her husband passed away from cancer 19 years ago. Since then, she has continued to work and support her family on her own and has spent her life caring for and supporting them,” Chatterjee said. What followed was not simply a struggle to make ends meet, but decades of putting her children’s needs before her own. With limited resources and little access to opportunities that could have helped them become more independent, Ghosh has remained their primary source of support.According to Chatterjee, Ghosh’s children never had the exposure or specialised training that might have enabled them to live more independently. As a result, even after spending most of her adult life working, their mother still cannot afford to step away from her job. “Her children could never have had the exposure to get trained specially to become independent. Even today, she has to keep working because this is the only income her family has,” Chatterjee said.There is a quiet poignancy in that reality. Ghosh has spent around four decades working as a house help, yet retirement remains a luxury because stopping work could mean leaving her family without its only source of income.“After four decades of working as a house help, she deserves some security and support for herself and her family,” Chatterjee added.Watch the video here:Her story has since drawn attention online, with social media users expressing admiration for Ghosh’s resilience and the years she has spent caring for her children. Many also felt that her situation points to the need for greater financial and social support for ageing caregivers and families of people with disabilities.For those who watched her story, Karuna Ghosh’s life offered a reminder that motherhood does not always come with the luxury of slowing down. Sometimes, even at 70, it means putting on your shoes, going to work and carrying on, because someone at home is still counting on you.- EndsPublished By: Srimoyee ChowdhuryPublished On: Aug 30, 2026 15:33 IST