Can I ask what your religion is?
Christian.
Are you married and do you have children?
Yeah, I'm married. I have two kids, they are twins.
How long have you been in Delhi?
This will be the fifteenth year I am here.
Who do you live here with?
With my in-laws.
Why did you come here? What brought you to Delhi?
Yeah, basically for surviving. Back home we couldn't find a job for that. Plus, they are under [constant threat of] terrorism. So, for surviving I came in Delhi.
Did you have any friends or family here?
My family, my brothers’ parents are here, so I just join and then I move out from then, like after a year and I start my business like this.
What kind of work do you do?
I'm a hairdresser.
How did you start this type of work? You trained here?
I've trained. I have done in Habib [school]. Earlier, my hobby was fashion designing, so I have studied. But in the meantime there were some problems. I left that and I started doing these salon things, hairdressing.
How much is your salary? And is it enough to cover your needs in Delhi?
Um, it's not exactly. I'm still investing.
Are you able to send remittances back home?
No.
What other kinds of jobs have you done before?
I was doing this in another company before. Then I thought of doing my own business, so I just did my training and then after that I opened this salon.
Can you describe your work day? Your usual work day? What time do you start? What time do you come here and what do you do?
I start like 9 in the morning. We are open 10:30am to 8:30pm.
What is your ideal job?
Like?
The job of your dreams.
After this, I've got a plan. After this, I'll move out to this market area. That's my plan, but let's see. It's quite difficult to survive. We are paying here 40,000 rent, so recently we opened a new branch. It's nearby. Right in this area. It was four months back I believe. So, let's hope for that. Thanks.
If you could have any job in the world that you like, what would you pick? Is this your ideal job?
Yeah, yeah, I'll pick this (laughs).
Will you one day go back to Manipur?
Um, let's see. But not at this time. Let's see.