Kunal Singh
Lydia A. Saravia
Writing Workshop
July 27th, 2006

Half An Hour

    Sipping Coffee, half an hour before going to work, my mother sits in front of me and waits for the question. For no specific reason, I am waiting for the clock to tick 7:30. As the clock ticks 7:30 am, my mom answers the questions about her two worlds at home and at work. She considers supporting, revealing her emotions and conversing in native language as her home environment. On the other hand, she loves her job which is actually a bank teller but thinks work is a necessity. The medium of communication at home is pure Hindi and Punjabi with no traces of English language, but at job the medium is English. She finds difficult to adjust to home and the working world as each one has its own rules and decision.
    At home she is happy  as she enjoys the company of her near and dear ones. She has a lovely and pleasant conversation and this makes her move away from her tensions. With her hands on her coat collar, she says, “Helping and spending time with my family and relatives are my first priority“. She finds all the activities such as celebrating festival’s, birthdays and anniversary together move upon the interest of the family members. She finds it difficult to move away from her family and relatives as everyone cares for each other.
    Family time usually involves having a good time buy meals,  watching TV and going out with friends to social parties. She finds the work atmosphere more tensed as it involves professional people. She says, “But at work I have completely different environment as I have to be punctual and courteous“. She explains, ”You need coordination with your colleagues and one should respect them“. She adds to the point by saying, “You need to have a professional relation with you associates so you have a peaceful atmosphere for work“. At this present moment she is disrupted by a call on her cell phone from my uncle who will be arriving here at Chicago from New York. After exchanging few words, she continues, “you can easily have a wonderful time with your associates and you can perform your task with ease”. She further explains how work environment is different in detail, at work she is not allowed to make her own decisions, terms and rules. All that matters is discussed by senior officials and they give the order which you follow.
    She choose to work because she feels that money is a necessity. She wants money so she can feed her family, fulfill all her desires, and the demands of the family. From no where she starts enplaning about finical planning and it’s importance but comes back to the point soon. She jokingly says, “without money you can’t buy anything except for love”. She takes a bite off a Prantha (Indian breakfast which is made up of finely milled whole wheat flour and water and is filled with potatoes, radish and cauliflower).
    She says that she tries here level best to stay in touch with both of her worlds, but she also finds it really difficult to stay in touch with the home and work world. She finds work more demanding and takes large amount of time from your day. She says “it’s demanding because at work manager needs some output as they pay you and people like me try their level best to do their jobs with sincerity”. She is not happy with the present moment as she says that she want’s to spend more time with me but she doesn’t have much time. She says that family life is filled with fun and surprises. She tries to enjoy her life to the fullest at home whereas at work she can’t enjoy as much plus she is totally exhausted. She adds to the point, “yes, it is necessity as you can’t live without a job as you will have no money as well as your family”.
    People have different behavior at different places similarly she finds the behavior of her superiors at her work sometime unacceptable as she guesses that they try to release their tension from their home or family life on the working class workers. As slowly and steadily the time is passing she asks me that, “how many question are left?” showing me that slowly and steadily she is loosing interest in this interview. With her coffee finished, she answers that she can’t leave these two worlds as the both are interrelated. She explains, :”you need money to lead a good comfortable life and feed your family”. Where will the money come from? Yes, work. On the other hand, if you don’t work, you won’t have any money and your family life won’t work well”. that’s the  reason why everyone work for money.
    Change in language is one of the biggest differences in these worlds. She speaks her native languages Hindi and Punjabi at home which is mostly understood and conversed by all the members of the family.
    Thus in the end she says that one should be satisfied with what ever decision one makes. She is happy with the decision she has made and she even says that she won’t be able to change her ideas and decisions she made, as it has become a part of her life. Once it becomes a part of your life it’s really difficult to move it away or neglect it. Her schedule involves continuous work and dealing with people as she is a teller. She expands her feelings by telling that, “I am living a happy and contented life with these two different worlds which I have fit inot really well and hope to do this rest of her life. In a matter of few minutes and she puts her coffee cup down and says, “bye” and leaves for work.