Hello! This is the twenty third video on ‘Spinning into a Career’. Let us begin with new purchases in the month of October to fill our wardrobe.
Ruchi goes with her colleagues to Manohar Chawl Wholesale Market to buy saris at a wholesale rate. She purchases exquisitely designed silk saris that appear to be expensive. Ruchi drapes the saris to the office. She lets it hang on the clothesline at home. She notices that one of the saris she has bought for her mother is missing. Ruchi values the sari because she likes it and has taken pains to go to Sharanai to get it. Ruchi realizes that her sari has been pilfered because someone has been to the house the day before. She arranges the saris to be worn during the week, washes it on Sundays and takes another set of saris from the closet for the following week.
Her brother is educated but cannot get a job. He applies for a rickshaw license. It is difficult to get a rickshaw license without political help. He has to pay money to get the license and Ruchi pays the amount from her savings. He then earns money that ameliorates the economic condition of the family. During her vacant hours, she looks at the steeple of a Gothic structure that seems to reach infinity. The cawing of the crows, descending, hovering or soaring into sky mesmerizes her. She writes the poem ‘The Sky Toucher’. She is surprised and composes many other poems which simply flow out of her. She does not take it seriously. Ruchi’s father wants her to collect all her poems, type them, and compile them. Ruchi did, and her father gets it bound into a book.
Her brother gives up rickshaw driving. Ruchi gives financial assistance to her brother, who then gets a job abroad. Her office work continues and her B.A. marks are settled. Journalism is a big scratch in her academic achievement. The thought of becoming a journalist, subeditor, PRO and the like vanishes from her mind. One thing that gives her plenty of satisfaction is writing poems. She writes them at moments when she feels a craving for them. It is like a child craving for a doll it wants to possess. she has no bangles or earrings on her. She forgets to put a bindi on her forehead. Sometimes she drapes good saris to the office. People expect her to drape bright -colored saris. A typist in the Spares section says she is like Sita in the forest who threw away her bangles and earrings when Ravana abducted her.
She needs to take her Bachelor of Education exam to become a teacher. She worries about her career and marriage. If she continues the job of a purchase clerk without climbing the career ladder, she will have to spend ten hours everyday out of home. It poses a question of whether she will be able to manage the home and go to the office after marriage. She will have to spend two hours cooking. Getting ready made food from outside regularly will take a toll one her health. She will have to spend two hours on daily chores. She needs to sleep eight hours during the night. This will take twenty two hours in a day, leaving just two hours, which can be easily lost in the life of a busy city dweller. It is taxing for a normal healthy person. The idea of getting herself tied to a watch plays havoc with her. As a teacher in a nearby school, she can manage both home and career. Besides, teachers can take up tuitions.
She realizes that the government job cannot pay her more than 450 rupees even after three and a half years of service. She can look after the child better as a teacher than as an offce woman. Ruchi takes a written test for probationary officers by the end of 1979. It becomes clear, she wants to become a teacher. She takes a leave from the office. She goes to colleges that offer Bachelor of Education and gets all the forms on Jan. 21, 1980. Ruchi’s brother brings forms from the National College of Education and Teresa Education Society.
Let’s see whether Ruchi is able to change her profession in the next video. Till then, goodbye!
Video can be viewed on You Tube by typing, ‘Spinning into a Career’ by Usha Raman.
