What kind of a story are you looking for? My life story? I don’t mind telling you about it. Yes, I will keep it a secret if you insist on it. Sure. You can write my name.
I am Divya. I was born and brought up in a small village. It is enough if you write that I was born in a small village. I don’t want you to write the name of my village. I am the eldest daughter in my family. I have three other siblings. My father is mentally challenged. So he stays at home all through the day. He does not earn anything.
My mother has taken complete care of all of us so far. She is a farmhand. She works in rice fields for 6 months in a year. She leaves home at 6 a.m. and comes home at 6 p.m. The owner of the rice field pays her Rs. 100 or Rs. 200/- in a day depending on the work that needs to be done. She does other odd jobs for the rest of the year. But usually, it is difficult to get other jobs like that in our village. So we have to manage with what she earns in these 6 months. We store the rice in our house and sell it for a small profit the next year. She can work during these six months too only if it rains properly and on time. Else we are left with no income for one whole year.
The government school in our village is quite good. I finished my 12th and decided to take up nursing. It was a two-year course and the college of nursing was quite far from my house. I would do all the household chores after my mother left for work. I would then leave for my college at 8 a.m. and return home by 4 p.m. I had to cook the evening meal for all of us as soon as I returned home from college. I could study only during the nights.
I don’t know what ambition means. I cannot understand English very well. But I think I know what you mean. I wanted to make my family financially stable. So I worked hard. My younger sister took up a tailoring course after her 12th standard. My younger brother is doing his first year of college and my youngest sister is in her 11th now.
I worked in a clinic near my house for 2 or 3 months. But I could earn only Rs. 2000 or 3000 each month. All my friends and I knew about these nursing agencies. We just have to show them our degree and register our names with them. They will call us whenever they have a requirement. We can take up the work after talking to the patient’s family. Yes, we can decline the offer if we don’t want to live far away from our homes or if we have any other problems. There is no compulsion at any time. Most of the students who pass out of our nursing college go to Chennai, Kerala or Mumbai because they get good salaries there. We all know we have to live away from home if we have to earn well.
The agency pays us very little initially. They take a cut from our salary every month as long as we work for them. I don’t know my salary or how big a cut they take. I just know that now I get Rs.10000/- each month because I work both shifts – 24 hours in a day. I keep Rs. 2000/- for my expenses and send home Rs. 8000/- each month. My food alone costs me Rs. 100 each day. Sometimes, if I spend carefully I can buy myself a dress too.
Yes, I get a deep sense of satisfaction when I think of my family and how they are financially stable now. But I am not happy. The people for whom I work are kind and good. The people whom I work with are good too. But no one belongs to my age group here. My life is all about doing my nursing duty all through the day. Nothing else.
Sometimes I chat with my friends over the phone. I go home two or three times in a year for 4 days or a week. I meet my friends at that time or go to meet them if they live close to my village. My brother comes to meet me once in a while when he has holidays in college. My mother obviously cannot come because of her age and her workload. That is the only time I get to meet my family. Yes, I talk to them regularly and feel good when I do so.
My sister takes up tailoring jobs now. But people come to her only if they are happy with the fitting or like her designs. She earns 2000 to 3000 a month. So compared to her I do earn fairly well. I guess the nursing course that I did worked out well for me.
Yes, of course, I will get married. I am only 22 now. I have told my family that I will get married after a year or so. I have to buy enough gold first. The chances of a girl getting married into a decent family are directly proportional to the amount of gold her family gives her during the marriage. All these things are discussed before the marriage.
No gold? Simple. Remain unmarried. We cannot change these customs. We just have to follow them. Even if a girl does get married without having any gold, the groom’s family will harass her or beat her up after the marriage. They will send her home and ask her to return only after she gets the amount of gold that they are demanding.
We are aware of all this. Maybe Hindi speaking people follow different customs. I don’t know much about it. I have to save enough money to buy a decent amount of gold first. Only then I can get married. Yes, my family will ask me whether I like the groom or not. I can even see the groom before we get married. But if I tell them I don’t like the boy they have selected for me, they will not listen to me. I have to get married to the boy they finalize for me. Yes, they just ask us for the sake of it. I guess they consider other things and know what will work best for me and them too.
Yes, we can switch jobs or quit working too. We just have to inform the agency people about it. Yes, I do get paid on time. They transfer the money to my account or if I tell them about it – they will even come and pay me in cash here. If I want to – I can even collect my salary from them whenever I go home. That’s about it. I have been working here for three years now. I am satisfied with the work that I do but there is no happiness in my life.