Of which religion and caste are you?
I believe in the religion of Islam. We are from the Ansari family.
Are you married? Do you have children?
Yes. I have two daughters. I have been married for ten years.
Where are you from and for how long have you been living in Delhi?
Basically, we are from Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh. I have been living in Delhi for about 10-12 years.
Why did you come to Delhi?
Actually, I have done a course in journalism. First, I did a course in TV journalism. Then I did my master’s in mass communication. Here, the job opportunities were plenty. All the TV channels are located here. Almost all the important news channels are right here in the Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region). Therefore, I did the course, and after I did an internship, we headed straight towards Delhi.
Before you came to Delhi, did you have any friends or family members staying here?
None. I had a nephew who lived here. Though he was not established. But I got a lot of help from him when I came here in the beginning. There was no other family member or relative here.
What work do you do?
I am from the journalism background, so writing and editing. I do these two things in Hindi. Or, if there is any script in Urdu, I transcribe that into Devanagari and Devanagari script to Urdu. And English to Hindi and Hindi to English, I do this vice-versa translation.
For how many years have you been doing this work?
Approximately 12-15 years in this field.
Whatever money you get from this work, is it enough for you?
I won’t say it is enough. All I can say is, I am surviving. Somehow, I manage. It is not too good. I can say only this.
Are you able to send some money to your family in Kushinagar?
No. They are all very well established in their own places. I have brothers, their families and agricultural fields at home. No member of my family is dependent upon me, especially for economic reasons. Therefore, I do not need to send home even a single penny.
Had you done this kind of job ever before?
Yes, it was my hobby. In the beginning, I had done my graduation with Hindi. I read many poets. I had an interest in writing since the beginning. Right from my school life, I used to write letters to the editor and I used to write short poems. I was involved in whatever literary activities were there. I had a leaning of that type. Therefore, I did my journalism course. After I came to Delhi, I got plenty of exposure, and I connected with great authors and magazines. And it felt very good.
What did you do before this work?
Before this work, in fact, I used to teach in a private school. I was a teacher. The school was government recognized. It was the number one school in the district for minorities. But the salary, the government salary, was not received. Therefore, there were problems due to which I had to leave it and come here.
Can you tell me something more about the work that you are doing now?
These days my work is more focused on translation, because there is more money in that. There are many Hindi authors and learned people, of whom I have interviewed about one and a half dozen. I interviewed them for the magazine Aajkal of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
In your opinion, what would be a good job for you, one which you would like to do?
I will keep on doing the writing job, writing and editing, even if it is part time. My desire is that in the future I should come into teaching, whether it is in mass communication, or in Hindi, which I have left a long time ago.
How do you like the Delhi life?
I have slowly become adapted to it. But it is very tough, too much running around. It’s said that people are just running at top speed, no one has any leisure. The market is open until 11, 12pm. You get to sleep at around one. You wake up late in the morning. It is not too good, but the atmosphere is like that only.
Have you faced any kind of discrimination here?
Discrimination, yes. You can not call it discrimination though. But I am from a Hindi background and I read and write only Hindi. I used to go Hindi newspapers for internships, or with applications telling them I needed a job. They stared at me from top to bottom, as if I had committed a mistake. They used to ask me, “Is your name [a muslim name]?” I used to reply in the affirmative. Then they used to ask me if I wrote in Hindi. I mean, strange questions like this. Later on, when I started writing they would call me and say, “You write very well.”
At present, are you facing any discrimination?
I was at a place earlier than this. It is a very big institution of India. They have a magazine, also they are publishers. I will not name them. It is not a good thing. There, with me they did the extreme. Being a Muslim I suffered harassment, not officially, but by some people. Some comments were passed. It went beyond my tolerance. And one day, due to this I had to resign.
If you ever get an opportunity to go back, will you go to your village?
By all means, I am always ready, though my wife cannot make up her mind if we should go back. But, whenever I get an opportunity, I will go and settle down right there in the land of my birth. I will build a small house and stay right there.
In your opinion, why do so many people come to Delhi?
It is about opportunity. First, if we talk about my writing field, the literary world, the world of journalism, earlier the center used to be Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Now that center has shifted to Delhi. Big authors and journalists and the news channels, magazines and periodicals – all the organizations are in Delhi. If we talk about professions, people come here because there are so many factories in Delhi, NCR, Noida, Greater Noida, and many big multinational companies in the IT field in Gurgaon, Greater Noida and Noida. Therefore, people head towards this place, where all these things are so numerous. There is work on a daily basis. Even the day laborers earn their living. In agriculture, it is not possible to provide jobs for all twelve months.