A day in the life of Sandeep Gawde: Interview at Rachna Sansad College.
Duration: 00:24:39; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 32.698; Saturation: 0.181; Lightness: 0.349; Volume: 0.143; Cuts per Minute: 0.325; Words per Minute: 143.363
Summary: Footage from a day spent with Sandeep Gawde documenting his movement patterns in the city. A tea break and an interview with Sandeep near the college canteen. He talks about livelhood, work-culture and his daily life working 2 jobs. (He works his first shift as a peon at Rachna Sansad., his evening job is with Dominoes as a pizza delivery boy)
SG - I started my job at Rachna in 1997. before that I used to have a sandwich stall at the naka (corner). I used to also study at Dadar Vidya Mandir College then. One day the librarian of Rachna Ms. Jyoti Mapshekar asked me if this is going to be my whole life and I said that I am looking around for other jobs but I am not getting any. One day she called me and employed me here (in Rachna).
SA - So she used to come to your stall to buy sandwiches?
SG - yes, I used to make good sandwiches so she used to come there. In 2002 I got married after which my expenses increased substantially and I couldn't manage on this salary and I thought I'd do a part time job. I used to do a part-time job earlier as well - night duty at Jogeshwari, before marriage.
education
expenses
hawker
library
life
livelihood
marriage
struggle
work
Sandeep Gawde (SG ) is sitting outside the canteen of Rachna Sansad College, under a banyan tree. Camera person Shaina Anand (SA) is taking the interview.
cart
employment
job
salary
sandwich
Rachna Sansad, Prabhadevi, Mumbai
ambitions
bombay
employment
expenses
family
interview
jobs
labour
migration
mumbai
overtime
portraiture
prabhadevi
rachna sansad
shifts
survival
time
travel
work
work culture
worli
SG - When I started working here I gave my 'sandwich stall' to someone else to run but dealing with the 'municipality' was troublesome. They keep confiscating the stall and one has to pay to get it released. That didn't work so even he stopped it and asked me if I wanted to give it to someone else to run but it just didn't work out.
SA - Was it a stall or a cart?
SG - It was a cart as in I used to push and park at the side of the road.
SA - So you had to pay hafta (weekly bribe to police)?
SG - Yes and that didn't work. So I thought I'd like to work the whole month and get a salary on the first of the month within that salary I can run my house. With dhanda (business) you never know what you'll earn today or tomorrow and expenses can increase.
business
confiscate
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duty
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hafta
health
jogeshwari
municipality
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shift
sleep
stress
time
Anyway, apart from this 'job' I also did 'night duty' in Jogeshwari in an 'ad agency.'
SA - So how did you get a job in Jogeshwari?
SG - The 'manager' of the 'ad agency' used to live where I live and I had asked if there was a job for me there. And that 'night' would suit me. There I used to get Rs. 2-3000 salary. I used to work there and then come here. Then I was working in the 'library' here and my 'duty' would start at 1:00 pm so I used to go home, sleep a little and then come here at 1:00. I would finish here at 8:00 and then rush there immediately. My 'duty' would begin there at 9:00pm. Even before my wedding that 'night job' really didn't suit me. I had fallen sick and it was stressful so I stopped it.
SA - so how many hours were you sleeping then?
SG - there, at times I would get to sleep by around 3-4 in the 'night', or sometimes I had to be awake the whole 'night'. That is why it was not possible. Also, as I had to report for 'duty' here by 1, I was not getting enough sleep. So I left that as I fell sick. So for three to four years, in between, I was only on one 'duty'.
double
excess
health
hours
labor
night
shift
sick
sleep
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Mumbai
Prabhadevi
Rachna Sansad College
duty
work
SG - after that, here at Rachna, I would do my 'library duty'. But they had started a 7:30 am to 1:00 pm 'PG course' here....
SA - what?
SG - PG course. 'PG course' of 'Architecture', which the 'HOD' had started, on 'environment?'
SA - a morning course?
SG - yes, so I asked him to let me work 'part time', so he told me that I will have to work 'full day' on 'saturday-sunday', will have to wait and it might be tiring. But I said that I was OK with it and was ready to work and he let me work.
PG
architecture
education
morning
courses
full-time
job
library
part-time
study
time post-graduation
tired
weekend
SG - After that,the 'PG department' and 'library', I wasn't allowed two 'jobs' in the same 'institute'. So then the Rachna Sansad 'trustee', ?Ghumase? 'sir' called me and made me understand that I would have to choose any one of the two jobs... so I decided to stick 'full-time' to 'PG department 'job as I thought that it being a new 'course' I would get to learn something and get a new experience.
So with the PG department, from morning....
SA - 'full-time' means how many hours?
SG - 8 hours...
SA - 8 hours...one 'shift'...
SG - yes...8 hours, but it was only one 'duty' with 'full day' work on 'sat-sun'.
8 hour shift
pg education
rules
trustee
SG - with that job, when I would go home I would feel that a lot of time was being wasted, besides where all can you roam in one 'area', even if there's a 'sea-face' near by, how many times can you visit it? So, as sitting at home I would get bored, I decided to do a 'part time job'. But didn't know where to look. For that, I would search a lot, would tell my friends to tell me if they came to know about one.
When I did start getting jobs, 'time adjustment' was a problem. So I still 'continued' to be at home in the evening after my duty here.
adjust
friends
help
management
problem
sea
sea-face
search
time
waste
boredom
SA - so was this only about boredom, or was it also, as you said earlier, that with marriage, two 'shifts' you would get more money too.
SG - yes, and with a family, our expenses had also increased, because of which it was necessary for me to to work more. What I was getting was not enough. I have a daughter also. I had to provide for her school and 'tuition' too.
bills
daughter
earn
education
expenses
family
job. wife
money
payments
shift
tuition
SG - that is when a friend of mine told me about a job at 'Domino's'. I said OK. He asked me if I knew how to ride a bike, if I had a 'license', and told me to try at 'Domino's'. So I went to them and inquired if there was a 'vacancy' for me. So they told me to get my 'bio-data', 'xerox' copies of 'license' and 'ration card'. I took it all, gave my 'interview', and was hired in two days.
After that, I started enjoying the work there. Here, I have no work pressure to worry about, but there, I get paid based on the 'hours' that I work.
SA - oh its like that....
SG - yes..
SA - so does it also depend on the number of 'deliveries' you make?
SG - no it does not depend on the 'deliveries',, only on the hours. So I used to work from 6 in the evening till 12 midnight, 6 hours. So then if, next day happened to be a holiday, then I would work till 1, 2 in the night. Even otherwise, if some guys did not come a particular day, so I was included in the 'action plan' which made me work till 2. so after that I would sleep, and would report for my 'duty' here at 9 in the morning, the next day.
bike
bio-data
copies
curriculum vitae
labour
license
resume
time
vehicle
delivery
domino's
holiday
hours
late
livelihood
part-time
payment
pizza
shifts
struggle
survive
two-wheeler
wages
SG - as a result, my family -my mrs. (wife)... my daughter asks me why I don't come home and stay at the 'college' itself. So I explain to her that I was at work , at 'Domino's'....so she asks me, like why I m not home, and all that. That is why, I sometimes, as I have an off on Thursdays, when she comes back from school I take her out. She should also know that her parents love her. So I take her out to a 'garden'.
daughter
family
garden
labor
love
walks
wife
SG - even my mrs. (wife) complains, that Im forever working, from morning till night..and its only work and more work. But,now, our 'age' is such that right now, till we reach the age of 40-50, as long as our hands and legs are strong, we can work properly. After that once our limbs start getting tired, we wont be able to work anymore. So if we work now, we can earn a livelihood and 'settle' in life, there is no harm in earning a bit more. So I am doing this 'part time job'.
age
earn
health
job
life
part time
settle
support
SG - also both my 'duties', this and 'Domino's', are close by for me.
SA - yes completely!
SG - yes, firstly, both are in Prabhadevi 'area', Im living also in Worli Koliwada, my 'time' is also 'adjusted' well. And so I can quickly, in 5 minutes, on my vehicle, I can go and come back. Theres not much 'traffic' on the roads around that time.
Koliwada
Worli
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bike
duties
fast
jams
koliwada
mumbai
orders
patkan
prabhadevi
quick
roads
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vehicle
worli
deliveries
time
SA - but why do you need to go home at 5 o'clock? Cant you just change here and go directly to 'Dominos'?
SG - I go home to get 'fresh' (freshen up)
SA - ok
SG - yes, I go home, freshen up, my 'shoes', and the 'Dominos' uniform are all at home as I cant carry it all here. So I 'fresh' (freshen up) at home, wear my clothes, have my tea, and leave for 'Dominos'.
clothes
fresh
home
labor
rejuvenate
shift
tea
uniform
dominoes
pizza
work
SG - also I don't really feel that, working at Rachna or at 'Dominoes', I m doing extreme 'hard work'. Because I, during my childhood, used to do a lot of 'hard work' in my village. As in, even now if I go to my village during the holidays, I m constantly working on something or the other, under the sun. in Konkan, my village, there is always some work to do, either in the house, work on cashew nut, mangoes, or work on the farms, or work concerning coconut trees, etc, do whatever work is available.
Konkan
agriculture
cashew
childhood
coconut
farmers
farming
farms
fruits
hard
horticulture
india
konkan
lifestyles
maharashtra
mango
migration
natives
sahyadri
sea
west-coast
village
SG - people take 8, 10, 15 days of holidays to relax at home, but it is not the same in my case, as I, myself, feel like working when I go to my village, as my parents are old and they need a a helping hand...
care
days
help
holidays
old
parents
relax
tire
NG - clarification.
SG - some feel that people go to their villages to relax, rejuvenate, during their 10-15 days of holiday. But I feel that the work here in Bombay isn't very tiring. I don't feel like I m doing much work. Even at Rachna, as our 'HOD's' ?Roshni Udyol?, ?Swati Kotulkar?, Pallavi Latkar, etc, they 'handle' everyone really well. and as they 'distribute' work well among everyone, I don't feel like I m doing a lot of work. Even at 'Domino's', I prefer being 'busy'. As in one doesn't tend to become lazy if one is continuously working. Continuously being 'busy' helps me to enjoy my work. Constantly fast, like in 'Domino's', I have to make the 'deliveries' in 30 minutes. If I reach even a 'minute' late I will have to give them the 'pizza' for 'free'. So people feel.
bombay
busy
distribution
dominoes
fast
holidays
idle
lazy
management
minutes
pizza
rejuvenate
relax
tire
village
delivery
time
work
SA - Tell us something more about your work at Dominoes. Do you have to pay the 'penalty' if you are 'late'?
SG - no we don't give the 'penalty'...
SA - they don't even cut it from your salary....
SG - yes, it is the 'company's rule' that if the 'delivery' doesn't reach a house in 30 'minutes' then they pay the 'fees'. The 'workers' aren't asked to pay.
company
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reduce
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salary
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Kohinoor mills
Matunga
SG - people are constantly trying to deliver the pizza on time by driving 'fast'. Even inside, within 10 'minutes' the 'pizza' is 'out' of the 'store'. We have 20 'minutes'. 2 'minutes' to 'set up' the vehicle and to put the 'pizza' in the 'bag', etc. After that, we manage to reach and 'deliver' within 15 'minute' . Our 'Dominoes area' of Prabhadevi is such that....i have to move between Prabhadevi, Shiv Sena Bhavan in Matunga to Worli Naka. That is why...
SA - how many 'kilometers' of area do you cover?
SG - what, it must be maximum 1.5'kilometer'.....not even that much...must be a stretch of 1 kilometer' each.
SA - that means, Kohinoor to Matunga, is 1 -1.5 kilometer', and Kohinoor to Worli 'seaface'....same...
SG - yes...like that, so 10-15 'minutes' are more than enough to reach easily. But sometimes if one gets 'traffic' or cant find the 'building's address', then one is 'late' in delivering the 'order'. But now that I have been working there for 5-6months, I am now used to these 'areas', I have the 'knowledge' of all the 'areas', which 'building' is where....so now Im never 'late', unlike when I had just started.....i did deliver two 'orders', a bit 'late'.
Shiv Sena Bhavan
Worli
Worli Naka
Worli Seaface
30 minutes
arabian sea
area
dominoes
free pizza
kilometers
kohinoor mills
matunga
months
mumbai
order
pizza
prabhadevi
shiv sena bhavan
vehicle
worli
bombay
SG - I don't feel pressurized by work as it is nothing as compared to the work we do in our village. We clear the soil off stones, we collect dung, put manure for trees, remove coconut from trees, collect mangoes, jackfruits from trees during their ''season'...and so, as we are constantly doing 'hard work' the entire day under the sun and helping our parents and family, work here seems like nothing. Here in Bombay, we keep getting time to relax one way or the other, but our parents and family back in the village go through more pain.
Bombay
agriculture
cashew
childhood
coconut
cow-dung
daily
farmers
farms
fertilizers
fruits
hard work
horticulture
india
jackfruits
konkan
lifestyle
lifestyles
maharashtra
mango
manure
migration
sahyadri
sea
soil
village
west-coast
SG - 'normally', even if a person gets 4-5hrs of sleep, its is more than enough. If I go home and sleep at 1 or 2 in the night, and get up by 7 in the morning, I have had enough sleep and don't feel that tired. And its not like I have a lot of work here and at Dominoes. Here my work is that of an 'office boy', and there its not like I have to carry loads of things, I only make 'deliveries'.
Sandeep tells us that 5 hours is enough sleep.
deliveries
dominoes
hardworking
hours
office boy,
shifts
sleep
time
labor
Sandeep Gawde talks about coming to Mumbai, and his father.
(garble)
SA - how many years has it been?
SG - I used to visit Mumbai, earlier, quite often. Then after my 8th grade, I came here. My father was working at a 'mill' and there had been a strike, because of which the 'condition' at home was pretty bad.
SA - your father was working at a 'mill'?
SG -yes...he was,
SA - so did he retire or did the work 'stop'?
SG - he retired, as in, as the 'mills' closed down he was forced to take 'voluntary retirement'.
SA - when did that happen?
SG - well it must have been around 2002 when the 'mill' closed down.....it closed in 2003....no 2002, and from 2003 my father has been in the village. both my parents have been in the village. Before that in I came here in '94-'95, and have been here since.
SA - You were living at Koliwada itself?
SG - yes I was at Koliwada itself.
Koliwada
bad
condition
home
koliwada
lower classes
mills
mumbai
retirement scheme (vrs)
school
situation
voluntary
workers
worli
year
middle class
SA - so till then did you have a 'guarantee' for your 'job'?
SG - yes I had no ' job guarantee', I got to work here at Rachna in '97. prior to that I was working at random places but I was trying to get a proper job somewhere. I had the ability to work hard, I liked to work hard and I was ready to do any kind of a job. All that was important, was to pay my bills, and I was struggling for that.
bill
employment
guarantee
lower class
payments
search
status
struggle
Sandeep Gawde (SG ) is sitting outside the canteen of Rachna Sansad College, under a banyan tree. Camera person Shaina Anand (SA) is taking the interview.
job
money
SG - in a place like Bombay, a lot of people say that there is no work. But for a person who really wants to work, there is a lot of work in Bombay. All a man need is a brain and he must be ready to work hard. Then they can work and earn a lot. As no work in Bombay has a shelf life, nobody can starve here too. If he goes anywhere and does any work at the end of the day he is definitely going to earn his daily wages. That is all!
hard
hunger
need
starve
wages
work
Bombay
bombay
mumbai
opportunities
SG - I like Bombay a lot. I obviously like my village as my roots are from that place and I have grown up in that soil. And here, as after staying here, our relations have grown with people, with work. Thinking about my 'life' and children, I feel that I can 'settle' in Bombay and take care of my children's education, 'career'. I can feed my family in my village too, but there the availability of opportunities is lesser. I can stabilize my life in Bombay and so I like it better.
attachment
availability
children
development
education
life
love
roots
rural
settle
stable
village
SA - what do you do for 'time-pass' ?
SG - well, in the past 1-2 years I have refrained from whiling away time. I used to do that earlier, but then realized that now I need to stop wasting time. I can spend that free time in work. We can enjoy later in life. Now that I m married, I have a wife and daughter I need to feed them too and for them I will have to struggle. I have to take care of my children now , as the days of having fun are gone. I have to think about how I can work hard and collect money....
activities
change
daughter
fatherhood
fun
important
livelihood
money
past
responsibility
struggle
time-pass
wife
SA - so you don't watch films?
SG - very few, like only when my wife wants to go for one, or for plays, 'orchestra' (music shows)....but only if she wants to, or if someone tells us about availability of cheap tickets, or if I get 'free tickets' then I go.
cheap
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SG - sometimes, once in a year, I take them away for a 'trip' of 3-4 days or a week. Also I keep going once or twice in a year to my village. So its OK. Even now I have left my mrs. (wife) and daughter in the village for a bit of 'change' in the atmosphere. My daughter should also get to experience some 'change' from her daily home and school life. She too tells me that she wants to go to the village and visit her grandparents.
SA -hmm
SG - yes, so I have left her there for a month or two. I will go there again to bring them back. So 'change' in life feels good. Other days, if there's a 'function' or someone's wedding to attend, which we have to attend, then at such times I do 'adjust' my work time, if there's a 'duty' and a holiday at 'Domino's', then I give up the holiday to go and work.
Sandeep Gawde (SG ) talks about holidays, his family and trips to the village, and adjusting his time.
adjust
atmosphere
change
daughter
experience
functions
grandparents
holidays
school
trips
village
weddings
adjust
work
SA - so basically you like working at 'Dominoes'?
SG - I like working at both the places, Rachna and 'Dominoes'. Basically I have a habit of being constantly 'busy' . I like running around with work so if you tell me to sit in one place and work 'continuously' for an hour I will not be able to do it. I from the very beginning don't have the habit of sitting in one place and working. Even when I was in school, or in college, I could not sit and study 'continuously' in one place, so I used to walk and read or I used to rather remember 'lectures' easily. Studying continuously was not possible for me with a number of thoughts going through my brains. So I prefer 'continuously' running around for work. So in that way, I have got the type of jobs that I like with a lot of advantages as closer to home, 'adjustable time', even the 'staff' at Rachna and 'Dominoes' is good. My colleagues, the 'clerks', the 'peons' , 'support' me a lot. So I feel that I should also do something for them, for their 'support', in return. Even my 'managers' at 'Dominoes' are good to me, because its like, if we talk well with the opposite person, the person is good to us. But if we misbehave, talk bad with them, our relations get affected. If we are good, every body is good. So I constantly make an effort to maintain good relationships with everyone because I have to work here, live here , we have to feed ourselves..
One should lead a simple life. There is no point in exhibiting one's wealth and making a big deal about one's 'income', status, and I don't agree to that behavior.
busy
colleagues
dominoes
exhibit
job
life
lifestyles
managers
money
pizza
relations
seniors
simple
status
time
wealth
work culture
Sandeep Gawde (SG ) is sitting outside the canteen of Rachna Sansad College, under a banyan tree. Camera person Shaina Anand (SA) is taking the interview.
SA - so you speak English too?
SG- no I don't speak English....
SA- but you know how to read...
SG - yes I read English. If the opposite person....
SA - because I saw 'D.N.A ' , that 'english newspaper' at your place.
SG - yes, I read. My younger brother was in the 'last year' (final year) at Rachna. He started the 'D.N.A paper'-delivery at home two years back. He, when he goes home in the evening, does a bit of 'painting'. He like 'painting' a lot. He is also working here at Rachna in 'Fashion Textile'. He has some 'computer' related exam of his final year, going on here. So he is either 'painting' or reading 'paper.' He is exactly opposite me, he like to sit in one place, doesn't like to go out much. So he is continuously engrossed in 'painting'. But he paints well. Also as he is working here at 'Fashion Textile', working with the professors, he is more used to it. Also otherwise at home, there's a 'harmonium' that he plays, or he just reads 'paper'.
Like I said, you will see me less at home. I come home only to eat and sleep. Once I have finished eating, if I have some time, I just go out, meet my friends, come home and sleep, get up, have a bath, and I m out again. i especially don't like sitting at home if there's no one at home. Once in a while I sit with my wife and daughter , watch 'TV' with them, talk to them a bit. But not otherwise....beside I hardly get the time. Its like that.
activities
art
artist
brother
course
d.n.a
daily
english
fashion
harmonium
languages
media
music
newspapers
painting
rachna sansad
textiles
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