Interview with Virendra Kumar

(Q1) INTERVIEWER: Do we have your permission to tape record?

(A1) VIRENDRA KUMAR: Yes.

(Q1) INTERVIEWER: Would you please introduce yourself.

(A2) VIRENDRA KUMAR: My name is Virendra Kumar.

(Q3) INTERVIEWER: And what work do you do?

(A3) VIRENDRA KUMAR: I do the work of a tailor-I'm a "tailor master."

(Q4) INTERVIEWER: How long have you been doing this work?

(A4) VIRENDRA KUMAR: I've been doing this work for twelve years.

(Q5) INTERVIEWER: And how did you learn your work?

(A5) VIRENDRA KUMAR: I was studying in Calcutta, in metric but I didn't get a job so I thought if I get married how am I going to support my children. So, I learned how to be a tailor. Since I've been successful in this, I've become a "master." After that I came to Arampur.

(Q6) INTERVIEWER: And how did you come to Arampur?

(A6) VIRENDRA KUMAR: My home is in this district, in Arampur in the Kasbah neighborhood. And my parents were working in Calcutta. And my mother and father said to me 'Go to Bihar and open your tailoring business. You know people there. " And so I came here and married. I have two kids The eldest child is named Rakesh Kumar and the youngest is named Mithun Kumar.

(Q7) INTERVIEWER: So were you born in Calcutta.

(A7) VIRENDRA KUMAR: No, I was born here, in Arampur, in the Kasbah.

(Q8) INTERVIEWER: And what differences have you noticed between Calcutta and here?

(A8) VIRENDRA KUMAR: In Calcutta there are a lot of facilities. There are a lot of resources-and there are opportunities for jobs, and in our Bihar there are no resources whatsoever. We work twelve hours a day but still can't make ends meet.