What religion and caste do you belong to?
I am from the Raidas caste.
Are you married?
Yes.
Do you have kids?
Yes, two daughters, three sons. One of my sons is handicapped. The eldest one. The one after him used to get fits.
Okay.
So, I had to get him treated. And now he’s better. It was very difficult because I barely earn 100-150 rupees here.
Yes, of course.
We’d just eat plain bread with salt throughout the day. Sometimes, we could afford only one meal a day.
That’s difficult.
That’s because we could not manage any other income. We compromised on our meals to get medical treatment for our son.
And how long have you been living in Delhi?
Sir, I came here in 1995.
With whom do you live?
I live with my family. The landlord’s name is Teerath. We live in his house and pay him rent.
Why did you come to Delhi?
I didn’t have any business of my own in the village. Neither do I own any land there. So, there was no work for me to do there. That’s how I landed here, in search of work.
And before you came to Delhi, did you have any friends or family living here already?
No. Nobody I knew was here. I came here alone. Someone from the village did accompany me.
But no one was living here already?
Nobody I knew lived here already.
What work do you do?
I polish shoes. I’m a cobbler.
And do you make shoes as well?
No, sir. I don’t make shoes. I can repair shoes, though.
For how many years have you been doing this?
Ever since I came here. Let’s say, since 1996 I’ve been doing this. For one year I was a day laborer. But some days I could find work and some days I couldn’t. So, I started doing this.
Is the money that you earn doing this enough for you?
It’s not enough, sir. This is not enough to manage our expenses but we somehow have to manage with what we have. My wife manages to earn around 1000-2000 a month working as a maid, cleaning places, doing dishes etc. That helps, too. And I manage earning around 5000-6000 rupees from this work.
And do you manage to send some money back home to your family in Banda?
No. I can’t send anything to them. Nothing’s left at the end.
Had you ever done this kind of work before?
No. Never. When I came here, I started working as a day laborer. I met with an accident. After that, my boss told me, “You go get some rest.” Then I saw someone doing this work. I saw him. I observed him for a couple of days, then I started doing the same thing.
What did you do before that?
Before that I did nothing.
And could you tell me something about your work? What kind of customers come to you? How do you work?
Sometimes I get customers who will have 10 rupees worth of work done, sometimes it is 20. Sometimes the work is worth 50. For example, I stitch the entire footwear. Or, if I need to add a sole or stitch big parts, that’ll be charged 50. Otherwise it’s mostly 30, 40, and 20.
What do you think about while working? What thoughts go on in your mind?
I just wish I could get a good income for the day, good enough for me to feed my family and manage the expenses. That’s it.
In your opinion, what would be an interesting job that you’d like to do?
An interesting job for me would be something related to what I know best. This is what I know best. It would be nice if I could get more of this work and earn more doing this. Something like, if I could start making shoes. Or if I could get shoes from stores and sell them here. Then my life could improve. For example, if I get a pair of shoes for 200 and sell them for 250-300 here, then I’d get 100 rupees for each pair that I sell. That would work.
And how do you like life in Delhi?
Life is okay here. It’s good. I mostly manage to feed my family. That means my life is pretty good. All’s well.
And if you ever get a chance to go back to your village, Banda, would you go forever?
Sure, I’d go. If I could go back, then why would I want to stay here? If I find work there, I’d love to live there.
In your opinion, why do so many people come to Delhi?
Maybe because they’re helpless, sir. They might not have any land or any other work to do. They may come here in search of some work. That’s it.