And where do you live in Delhi and with whom?
I'm living in Delhi NCR by myself.
When you came to Delhi for the first time, did you have friends or family here?
My classmates were over in Delhi already so it was with them that I applied for colleges. Other that that, my sister was already here and she was doing a music course. And that's how I had a place to stay and my parents agreed.
What kind of work do you do here?
I work as a physical education teacher and freelance soccer coach. And also I am qualified as a lecturer as well, in university, so looking for that. I am applying these days.
What level did you study in university?
I've started my master's from Delhi university. That was a master’s in physical education. And, currently I am pursuing a PhD.
Uh, how much is the salary? Is this salary enough to cover your lifestyle?
Even the freelance work has been very satisfactory. I've been very lucky in that case. The payment has been really good, from wherever I've worked.
Do you send money to your family in your hometown?
To be honest, I think my parents are doing really well. They are pretty well-off. So they don't really ask for anything.
Can you describe your work day? You're about to go to a soccer lesson right now.
When I am not doing this, I am doing a yoga instructor course these days and since I am working freelance there are some times for the other courses. My day starts very early. I am up at 5am. 4-5am basically, and I practice my techniques, whatever they have been teaching us. It takes about 3 hours to finish off everything. Then breakfast and the normal things, plus I'll prepare something for my exams or I'll study and also I'm very interested in reading. So it's a must for me to read the newspaper every day and any other thing that I can read. But evenings I work, so I am going to a school close by and coaching there thrice a week. That's a fixed thrice a week class. I eat dinner by 7, 7:30, sleep by 9:30.
Do you ever find it's a problem to work freelance?
Yes, it is. It is. Because when you are working as a freelancer, things are not fixed. Since I deal with kids, the moment school shuts down, they travel with their family here and there, because this is not their own hometown. Their own hometown is somewhere else. The work is very unpredictable. I can never be sure about it.
What is your ideal job?
I always wanted to teach. I enjoy teaching. Just helping a person grow, in any way, is my ideal job. I am okay with anything in which I can help people uplift themselves.
When you are in Delhi do ever face any sort of challenge or discrimination from being an outsider?
No, I have not felt it. I will tell you when it comes to caste, if by chance you belong to somebody's community or caste and they believe a lot in it, they will immediately do things, they will go out of their way and do things for you. But if you don't, they will not treat you in the same manner.
One day will you go back to your hometown to settle or do you feel like you're settled in the city and would like to stay here?
Actually, if I had a choice, I would have definitely gone back to my hometown.
Because that's where I was born, that's where my family is. In fact, I had this thought, why not go back to my hometown and you know, do something over there? But, there are many factors like money. This is a very good question because these things have already come to my mind, why can't our hometowns – the small towns – be like the cities? The kind of opportunities they give, if that starts I think people are never going to migrate and leave... Nobody wants to actually leave their own place and then move out to a place which has a lot of pollution, which has so much traffic. I'm still at the safer side you know because I chose a job which is not very hectic. There are people who leave the house, you know, seven in the morning and they reach home at 11 at night. Because their work place is very far from their own place. But they're doing it because the money is involved and there are no job opportunities in the area which they live in. So if the opportunities are created in their own place, nobody would want to leave. I feel that, personally.