ALL WORK, NO REST FOR BLOS

With BLOs across the country speaking out on the distress wrought by SIR workload, TNIE follows a noon meal cook for a day as she struggles to feed students and complete the enumeration work on time

- NIMISHA S PRADEEP @ Vellore

MOHINI*, a noon-meal cook at a government school in northern Tamil Nadu, is hunched over a steel basin, peeling the shells off freshly boiled eggs — lunch is barely half an hour away. She dips each egg into a bowl of water before transferring it into a vessel. Her assistant, Ramani*, helps her finish the task. The eggs peel easily today, but Mohini’s mind is elsewhere — on the long afternoon that awaits her, once the school shift ends.

Since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began on November 4, her life has followed a punishing rhythm, as Mohini is not just a cook; she is also a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in charge of SIR duty.

While other BLOs zip through their routes on two-wheelers, Mohini, who is in her forties, moves at a slower, steadier pace - on foot, house after house, lane after lane. Juggling between jobs, she clocks nearly 4-5km daily, driven by a spirit that refuses to tire even when her legs do.