Can we know your religion?
Hindu.
And what is your caste?
Arg (Bansi).
Are you married?
Yes.
And children?
I have 4 children.
For how long have you lived in [the] Delhi [area]?
I have been in Delhi since 1990.
And what about your family, whom do you live with?
I have family here. In my family there is my wife, children, parents. They used to come here and go back, they live in the village.
Okay, why did you come to Delhi?
Because of food. I was not getting proper food in the village. I was not getting food twice a day, it wasn’t right. I didn’t even have proper clothes to wear. My parents would save for a proper education. There were so many problems, like not even having proper footwear to wear. That is why. I was so helpless and then came here.
Did you have any friends or family here?
No, I did not have any friends in Delhi.
What kind of job do you do?
I work in a metal company. I buff the utensils, I make them shine.
How did you start this job?
Earlier I used to work at a different site. I was not doing this job, as I was very young. Many people advised me to go back to my village. I thought ‘If I go back, I will face the same problems. They will send me for schooling and I will not have proper clothes to wear and all.’ Being hopeless, I learned this work.
The earnings that you make here, is it sufficient for your survival?
No, it’s not.
Can I ask you about your salary?
My salary is 11 thousand rupees per month. Perhaps, 100 rupee less than 11 thousand.
Are you able to send some money to your family as well? Are you in a position to send money to them?
No, I’m not able to save anything.
Had you done this kind of [factory] work before?
This job – I came to Delhi at the age of 13 or 14 years, and I directly started with this kind of job. No one has given me any chance in any other line. So how would I do any other job?
Can you tell us about your day? What time do you start in the morning, and what time do you finish your work?
I work from 8:30 in the morning until 5 in the evening.
And what do you do?
There is a motor and there is a shaft at both sides of the motor. And I sit at the one side of the motor and I rub it, like this. [demonstrates]
Do you like your job? What do you think about your job?
I do not like my job, from the beginning I haven’t liked it. It is out of compulsion only. I might have left Delhi. But again I would have had to – It would have been the same routine. That is why I have to do this work, out of compulsion. To this day I am not happy with the work that I am doing. Since I dropped out in grade seven, no one will give me a good job. I’d need a degree. That’s why I am doing this job.
In your opinion, what would be the ideal job? The best job?
In my opinion, the best job would have been as a worker, like if I would have had knowledge of electronic work, I would not need to change clothes. Or it could have been a construction job or any other job. No one taught me these things, because I was so young. And no one gave me another line of work. So I hope to work in this kind of job, one in which I do not need to change clothes. I could work in the same clothes that I am wearing. But the job I am doing right now, I take off all these clothes of mine and hang them up. The clothes become so dirty, if you saw my face you wouldn’t be able to recognize that I am the same person or someone else. After I take a bath, only then can you recognize that this is the same person.
How do you find life in Delhi?
It is a very difficult life in Delhi, it is kind of suffocating here. I had a hope that it would be better here in this company, but I am stuck here now. This company has terminated me four times, and I was reinstated after winning the case every time.
If you were given a chance to go back home, back to your village, would you like to go back there?
Now how would I go back? if I have some money, only then would I be able to go back, otherwise not. I have nothing in the village. If I had sufficient land, then why would I have come here to a different city? Now what would I do back in the village? If I had enough, I would get a small stall here, a stall to sell bananas. This is the only option I have to survive.