S Sathya
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“Before taking a photo, some agree, and some do not. Some are willing to share their stories, and others are not so keen.”
S Sathya
“People go to small factories and work. I don’t know this woman personally, but I explained what I was doing and why I was taking pictures, and she was initially reluctant but after I explained she was happy. She’s removing extra threads from garments, and sitting near the light. It wasn’t light or colours which I found interesting, but the story behind it– this woman’s husband is an alcoholic, and the only way she can feed her baby is by doing this work every day. It’s both ways though- some husbands help the women, and others do not, it’s the same everywhere.”
“I took this photo to show the set up of homeworkers. The lady sewing in the background is older, and because of her age she gets only 200 rupees today, whereas others get 250. Normally I am too busy to worry about things, because I am working, but when I hear such stories I worry for my own future. Normally, I’d not talk about these things – just chat, but in coming with the camera she was more willing to talk to me about these things. It helped that the company owner wasn’t there too, so we were more free to speak. I’m from Kerela, not from here, and so my mother and mother in law don’t do homework, they stay back in the village. We moved here with my husband for work.”
“This is my cousin, she’s the daughter of my aunt, who moved to Tamil Nadu when she married here in Tirupur. So, my cousin is from here, whereas my mother and I are from Kerela. It’s easier to get work when you know somebody – when I moved here, I got training from my cousin. Whenever the owner of the set up was not there, my cousin took the time to teach me on the machines and train me. This meant I was able to tell the owner that I had done stitching work elsewhere and get work from him too. You can also train at training centres, and the companies which give jobs also provide some training. I would prefer to live back in Kerela, where the climate is better and I had much more freedom because I know it well. When I lived there, I was unmarried, and even though it was a love marriage, I still gave up freedoms when I was married and moved here. If I was in Kerela, I think I’d still be a tailor- but not as a homebased worker. There are also more opportunities to work as a farmer, but if you don’t want to get your hands dirty it’s better to be a tailor.”
“When I went to take this photo, the contractor was there. The woman in the picture was being trained, and is new to the work – and the contractor was telling her, ‘You will have to work faster than that or you won’t make any money.” Initially, we often are afraid of the contractor, but over time we become more confident and able to ask for more work. I’m very new to this work, so I don’t know much about how to negotiate.”