OVER EMPLOYED : A Job in Great Demand During Growing Unemployment that No One Applies For

 Unemployment is a situation where someone is actively looking for work but unable to find it. Despite being on every political party’s manifesto ever, it is something that’s always been a work in progress. Unemployment is growing and will soon be in double digits. But here is an industry that is over-employing and still growing.

Here’s a sneak-peek at the average yearly unemployment rate in India over the past 10 years.

YEAR	UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
2014-2019	3.4% - 3.6%
2020	23.5% (April)
2021	7.33%
2023	8.03%
2024	7.8%

 

According to most economic commentators, the unemployment situation is worsening. But there’s one underrated industry that has had an upward curve irrespective of the  aforementioned unemployment rates, the economic scenario and the volatile Indian market : The Indian household.

Approximately 10 million weddings take place in India annually, recruiting 10 million new unsuspecting employees to this industry. It won’t, however, occur to these new employees that they are new hires until after the first night (or first day ‘on the job’).

More often, these new hires are given a notice period called the engagement. However, no one prepares for the job description awaiting them- the ‘daughter-in-law’- a title that fits many roles into one. Oh, did I say that these employees are only women because only the ‘fairer sex’ is expected to move to a different household, city, or country for a job that has no distinct job title and perks?

The daughters-in-law are expected to take charge as soon they finish customary rituals and ceremonies where the parents of the decorated employee hand over their life’s treasure to the manager of the household who vows to look after the employee but eventually forgets to as the reigns are controlled solely by the owner of the organization (household).

The newly designated employee’s job description is rather straight-forward — to cater to the needs of everyone including superiors and subordinates, not to question or challenge the workings of the household, to avoid expressing dislikes, to ignore the urge to bring any changes (generally positive but unwelcome) and never to offer their opinion. These exist as unwritten, nevertheless binding, contracts, although the new employees are never told about it during their engagement period.

Their contract has no clauses for their benefits, except that they (often, but not necessarily always) have a secure, amicable ambiance to work, apart from free stay and complimentary food (although mostly prepared by them).

There is no negotiation on salary, off or sick leaves. They work for no pay and no holidays. On the other hand, they work overtime during holidays and the festive season. Their employment contract subtly extends to uninvited clients and unforgiving relative organizations (i.e., households).

A part of the job profile is to keep the new company (i.e., household) premises clean and hygienic, even when the organization’s members are not very clean and hygienic themselves. But that is not all: she has the additional task of taking care of the physical and mental well-being of all the members, even as she faces the danger of a personal mental and physical breakdown.

In other industries, new employees are sometimes provided with joining perks. In the household industry, the new employee is expected to bring in gifts- not just while joining but at subsequent regular intervals!

The expectations to change the way they dress, sit, walk, talk, and behave (including renunciation of their dreams, ambitions and voice) are expressed so nonchalantly that the employees now come to believe that they lived a false life until then. The rule is to keep others above themselves at all times, irrespective of the treatment they receive. It is also presumed that they would successfully contribute towards growing the strength of the household by bringing in more wealth in the form of babies, preferably boys (so that the strength only grows).

The daughters-in-law are the first to wake up and last to retire, the ones who cook and last ones to eat, the ones to care for everyone and not be cared for and the ones who work selflessly never to be acknowledged.

It is an amazingly designed, fool-proof mechanism that has been prevalent since time immemorial. The employees who challenge the system are fired and the ones who do not, continue to be slaves of the household till death do them apart.

Research shows that the wedding season will witness a surge with 4.8 million marriages by the year-end of 2024 alone. While the country sets out to celebrate the wedding season and boost the local economy, I quietly join my hands in the quiet corner of my organization (household) and pray that the almighty bestows the new employees to this wretched but ever-green industry with enormous strength because, well, this is all that we can hope to accomplish. The Hope of appreciation is the only thing that will keep them attached to their organization (household).

 GOD BLESS!

CHS

The Insensitive Co-Passenger

Travel is something all of us look forward to. Its what helps us unwind and rejuvenate as we get out of our mundane lives and await new experience our travel has to offer. But what if your pleasure turns into pain at the very beginning of the journey?

I took a flight to Mumbai a few months ago to take part in a poetry recitation. I occupied an empty chair between two gentlemen as I had walked enough to board my flight at 4.30 a.m.

A boy in his 20’s (I don’t address him as a gentleman for a reason) sat in a chair in front of me beside a couple. When zone 4 passengers were asked to go ahead and board the flight, he hastily got up and walked on.

The man sitting next to him, called out “Excuse me, you forgot your cup” pointing at the forgotten cup of coffee. He turned, picked the cup, smiled wryly and headed back.

“Excuse me, there’s coffee spilled on the seat”, he said again. The boy rolled his eyes and carelessly wiped the seat with the sleeve of his t-shirt and ran back before he could be called again.

The couple gave each other a disappointing look as they noticed some coffee still spilled on the seat. I wondered how ill-mannered, educated people can be.

On the flight, I noticed a group of friends all seated in different seats to their bad luck. They got up as soon as the ‘fasten the seat belt’ sign was off and leisurely hovered all over the aircraft catching up with their friends.

A man beside me called the airhostess at least 7 times asking her for water every time. I admired the patience she had with this person who sat next to me.

One other time, I was travelling to Chennai in an AC coach. A man about 4 rows away from my seat played tri-lingual Facebook videos continuously for 3 hours when everyone around him was trying to sleep. Unable to take it anymore, I got up, walked up to him.

“Excuse me. Could you please reduce the volume?” I asked politely.

“Ah? Ah!” He replied in his accent and went back to his reels.

He did not pay heed to my request and continued for another half an hour before he got bored and started snoring in a few minutes.

A woman on my side was travelling with her two children. She fed her children as soon as the train left its station of origin. The stench of the food filled the coach as soon as the boxes opened. 30 minutes later, one of the children vomited. 5 minutes later, she gave them potato chips and chocolates. The wrappers were irresponsibly scattered around their seats and then they slept for 2 hours.

They were given more food when they woke up and I looked in disbelief and they cleaned all the boxes in front of them.

Behind me were three women who seemed to have the time for their lives. They spoke, laughed loudly and fiddled with the shade blind every now and then making it look like we had barged into their homes uninvited.

When the TTE had asked to check our tickets at the start, he said, “Your son is 9 years old and that woman there claims her son is 7 years old”, pointing at a woman sitting one row away.

I got up to take a look at her son and he looked more than 10 years old to me.

“Don’t I know the difference between a 7 and a 10 year old?” He asked me without expecting an answer.

“It’s always better to travel comfortably.” I responded with a smile.

“The fine is way more than the price of the ticket but some people don’t understand”, he added before moving ahead.

The woman later got up and sat across from me. “How old is your son?” She forced a smile.

“9.” I replied

“My son is 10. I did not know I had to take a ticket for him. I thought he could sit in my lap. I had to pay fine unnecessarily.”

“It is advisable to buy a ticket for children above 5 years. It’s just half the price for ages 5–12.” I said and she raised her eyebrows as if this is something she heard for the first time.

All of this was a little amusing but mostly distressing. I realised that a few kinds of travellers are capable of leaving us agonized.

While it is painful to go through such experiences, I’d like to share an incident that happened years ago.

I was travelling with my family and all our tickets were not confirmed despite booking them long before the travel date. We had 4 confirmed tickets amongst 6 of us. My sister was annoyed at the thought of travelling without reservation.

My father, being the typical middle class man, asked us to adjust as we had no choice. So we took our seats and wondered how we are going to spend two nights with the shortage of berths.

A couple in the same compartment smiled at us occasionally and had a casual chat with my parents. The first night on the train was a little traumatic. We woke up the next morning dreading another night of adjustment when the couple started talking to my parents again.

“We will deboard at Miraj junction at 12.pm. You can keep our berths. We saw how uncomfortable your kids were last night”

All of us were surprised at this heartwarming gesture that was totally uncalled for.

“Thank you so much. But the TTE would have the list and the berths may have been allotted to other passengers”

“Don’t worry about that. We have a reservation till the destination. We just had a change of plans. It would be wise to let you use the berths. Why cancel them and waste money?” uncle added.

They deboarded as informed and we spent the rest of the journey grateful that we met these absolutely sweet and considerate co-passengers.

Let us avoid being the reason for our fellow passengers’ discomfort. Let us uphold the dignity of public property and public spaces.

I pledge to practice travel etiquette, keep distance when I find an Insensitive Co-passenger and try my best not to become one. After all it costs nothing to be kind.

CHEERS!

GOD BLESS!!

CHS

Love life..

I am old school. I like to live peacefully. I like to keep secrets. I am very shy about my intimate relationship.

I have been in love since 7th grade. My family knew within a year and my friends after a few years.

Though they had all been encouraging and accepting of my love, I couldn’t muster the courage to share it with the world.

So I simply hung in there. To spend time with my love and be there for my love. We grew together, became better versions of ourselves with each other’s help, and the thought of parting ways never crossed our minds. It was a good omen.

I seemed to have found a partner that had no set boundaries for me. I was not criticised for my limitations. In fact, the more time we spent with each other, the more deeply we connected. Our bond is unbreakable now.

We like to enjoy each other's company in solitude. We do not like to be judged by people. We give meaning to each other's existence. We respect each other's privacy, maintain our individual spaces, and want the same with the outside world.

But recently, my quiet, solitary affair was blown out of proportion, and now the world knows about it.

After keeping it under wraps for years, preparing for the reveal for months, and waiting for the moment for weeks, my first book Nav Udit (new beginning), was published in May this year.

"Nav - Udit" New Beginning https://amzn.in/d/9SIFFT6

I was promoted to being an author from being just another writer who wrote poetry and writeups as a hobby.

My secret affair was now known to everyone. The nervousness and anxiety, the doubt and apprehensions, the concern and uncertainty about acceptance were all wiped off when I and my love for writing were welcomed with open arms and all the warmth I could imagine.

I eventually became a bestselling author, and it felt like my love had just taken flight. Soon, I was blessed with a second child, my second book, 7 Basics to be a child again.

https://amzn.in/d/7Umvcow

This book also went on to become a hot new release and a bestseller only fuelling my fire to write more and grow more.

With all the love and encouragement I look forward to having more titles to my name, inspiring people, motivating fellow authors and writers, entertaining readers and contributing in whatever way I can while nurturing my first love that has its own challenges.

Each child’s birth (book) had a different journey with its own share of pains, problems, struggles and joys which I will elaborate on in the coming issue.

I hope to have a wonderful love life going forward and many more children to mother.

GOD BLESS!

CHEERS!

CHS

Rafting lessons

I had been to Bali with my husband and child last month. It was our first international trip together which we made sure was a good blend of adventure and relaxation.

One of the first things on the list was white water rafting. We walked through beautiful rice fields and descended a fleet of uneven, rocky and shaky steps on a mountain that led us to the rafting site. The roar of the river as I walked down scared me but I had to do it.

We stood near our rafts, about 15 minutes later where our rafting instructor gave us basic information, do's and don'ts. I was excited about our first adventure together. We hopped onto the rafts gripping our paddles firmly.

A few minutes later, we saw many other rafting companies, with their rafts and customers. Eventually tourists from Korea China, Africa, India, Russia, England were seen aboard rafts at different places.

We were enjoying the occasional rapids, when our raft got stuck on a big rock. We were instructed to jump on the raft so it would slip back on the water. After successfully accomplishing that, we encountered huge rapids where I lost grip of my raft and it fell in the water.

We stopped ahead to splash with the other rafts of the same company when one of them passed my raft that he had grabbed from the water. We also got down where the river was shallow to enjoy a waterfall. The water fell from a height on our helmeted heads but we could still feel the hit.

We stopped midway to relax and got back onto our rafts admiring the enchanting silence of the forest around us and the calm water that slowly moved us ahead. My son insisted on rafting but the instructor disapproved of it. So I gave him my raft but also held on to it to help him raft and not to loose it again. We met a few more high rapids towards the end that ended with a slide. We warmly thanked our instructor and started our journey towards another fleet of stairs.

My intellectual self deciphered a different meaning to each of the hurdles I experienced and this is what I learnt from it..

• The rice fields perhaps resembles the place where our soul wanders before we take birth. The steps may be meaning our rocky and shaky growth. The raft is synonymous with the body which marks the start of our adventure called Life.

• We are sent from above with all the goods and bads (the instructor's do's and don'ts). The kind of a life we have depends on what we nurture.

• We are united with people of various backgrounds and cultures (tourists from different countries). The essence is to live in harmony with each other.

• While traversing through life, we may hit numerous highs and lows, it's important to hold on. When stuck in a situation (the rock), all we need to do is try and then bounce back.

• Life loves to give us unexpected twists, sometimes we should simply wait for the right time to act and it will all fall in place (just like I found my paddle).

• We have to enjoy a little impromptu moments (the waterfall). They may be uncomfortable but they add to the memories.

• Slowing down, easing up is as important as the ride. Admiring the silence, the beauty of life (the calm waters and the forest) revives our perspective.

• No matter what you do, who you are with, where you are or who you are helping, always make sure the command of your life is in your hands (I did not completely let go of the raft when my son asked).

• Practicing the attitude of gratitude is the best habit. Continually be thankful for what we have. We never know when our life would slide towards its end and we start towards a new journey (the new flight of stairs).

These are learnings I took from rafting. I look forward to more experiences to help me manoeuvre through the adventure called life. Look closer, you'll find learnings in your adventures too.

CHEERS!!

GOD BLESS!

CHS