A day in the life of two women in India. One a successful businesswoman working in the city, the other a housewife in a small rural village.
Tanya
9:00 AM Wakes up.
9:45 AM Breakfast of eggs on toast and coffee. Reads the Business Standard and Times of India.
10:00 AM- 11:00 AM At work, discusses plans for the day with staff, follow-ups, calls & emails.
11:00 AM – 4:00 PM Meeting with clients to discuss Ad campaigns and to negotiate payments.
4:00-4:15 PM Break for yoga exercises.
4:15-7:15 PM Working with the team on Ad campaigns, brainstorming, photo shoots, planning.
7:15 PM Networking with clients, drinks & snacks at a bar/Lounge.
10:20 PM Night out socializing with friends at a disco.
01:00 AM At home, online networking, emails, work planning.
3:00 AM Goes to bed.
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Tanya is a 29 year old single woman who runs her own advertising agency. She broke up last year with her boyfriend of 7 years due to his increasingly over possessive nature. She now lives in a flat by herself.
Dream: to find her purpose in life and to start a family with a man she loves & who loves her.
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Phooli
04:00 AM Wakes up.
4:30 AM Feeds the animals, milks the cows.
5:30 AM Wakes up husband and kids, makes tea for husband.
5:45 AM Prepares breakfast for husband, kids and in-laws and then gets kids ready for school.
6:45 AM Drops kids at school.
7:00 AM Sweeps and mops the house, washes clothes, cleans the animal sheds, chops firewood.
12:00 PM Works on embroidery and stitching jobs due that week.
1:00 PM Cooks lunch.
2:00 PM Picks up kids from school.
2:15 PM Feeds the kids, takes lunch for husband.
3:00 PM Makes sure kids do their homework and studies, looks after animals, works on embroidery & stitching jobs once more.
5:00 PM Presses the feet of in-laws, reads out the verses from Ramayana to mother-in-law (saasu ma).
6:00 PM Husband back from work. Makes tea & snacks for everyone. Presses the husband’s feet, head massage.
7:00 PM Cooks dinner, feeds animals, milks the cows.
8:30 PM Serves dinner, puts kids to sleep, irons all clothes, arranges clothes & kid’s bags for the next day.
9:00 PM Attends to husband’s needs.
10:00 PM Does the dishes, cleans the kitchen.
12:00 PM Goes to bed.
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Phooli is a 25 year old woman. She was married at the age of 12 and has two daughters aged 10 and 8 respectively. She was made to drop out of school, although she was a brilliant student, as she could not be more educated than her groom. Her husband loves her dearly and they have mutually decided to educate their daughters and to send them to a good college. As of now they study in English medium schools and do their parents proud. She is also trying to talk her husband into sending her back to school to complete her education.
Dream: To pursue her Masters in Physics. To see her daughters better than the sons of her neighbours!
This is a guest post by Shailee.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for sharing this post,make us have something to think about.have a great day..
Wow Shailee – this was so interesting. I don’t know much about that culture so I enjoyed the contrasting snapshots.
Thanks Rian.
Glad you liked it, Katherine.
Shailee, how very interesting – both so different. Married at 12 – my, that is incredible, not something we have here in the UK. Which woman would you rather be?
Olivia, the one married at 12 is from a village in rajasthan. Child marriages, sadly, are still common there and so is female foeticide.
Which woman would I be? The choice is a bit difficult as I would like to be a combination of the two, with the freedom of the corporate woman and a caring supportive spouse like that of the housewife.
I guess we all have some positives & some neagtives, overall life depends on how we make the best of what we have.
Thank you Shailee for this fascinating insight into Indian society.
Shailee, I think that merging the two lives is wonderful. I am both. I work from home and I also take care of the household and make meals, etc. It’s entirely possible to find balance especially if you’re self employed.