ABSTRACT
The first time we meet is at the call centre language training session. A fasttalking, wise-cracking mother of one, Smita grew up in East Africa and India, and has recently come back from working in France. Her mother a Bengali, her father from Uttar Pradesh, Smita married a Bengali from Orissa: ‘It’s all a mish mash with us so Delhi is the perfect place to live.’ She smiles. At 33, Smita is one of the older women working in the call centre, a distinction she makes throughout our many conversations together. Smita is careful to point out that her experiences of living abroad and being raised by a career-driven mother have meant that her choices in life tend to focus on balancing career and family:
A few years back I worked in advertising, 1994-2000. That’s like being a doctor; you don’t know where you are going to go next and there was never any responsibility taken for women who had to work late. They never offered to pay your cab fare if it was after eight o’clock, or pay your auto fare if it was before eight o’clock. How you went or who you went with was never their problem. It was like, ‘Just go get the job done. Is it done?’ They didn’t care what time it was in the night. I was always my husband’s responsibility. Which is why I left. No one took any responsibility. It was too vague. It was non-sexist to an extreme. The only difference was the ladies’ loo and the guy’s loo. At that point, I would have said call centres are rubbish, before I had our baby. Now I don’t say that any more. My mother always said you should be a teacher. I agree. If I could be a teacher for three years, and then get back to being a highflying laptop person, I would do it, but right now I have to be there for my baby. It’s a very temporary part of life, only for about five to six years then, so a woman should have a career. The career which does not require her to work at night because it is unsafe, and which does not need her to commute either alone or on public transport, because the world is not safe. So if a call centre job can give a woman that kind of security, then it’s good.
