Woman at the petrol pump/gas station

Today while entering into a gas station with papa, I noticed that the person in uniform standing at the entrance of the station to usher in cars was a woman. My research antenna immediately raised itself. While entering into the gas station, I pulled down the glass window and asked the woman if regular petrol was available. She courteously said yes and ushered us in. I debated for a few seconds on whether I should indeed step out of the car and talk to the woman or not. As I sat there inside the car debating on whether to step out or not, I saw another woman, this time a young girl, also in uniform walk across our car with some cash in hand, obviously transacting between the customer and the payment counter. Finally I realized I would be a fool to let go of this tremendous learning opportunity and stepped out of the car and walked towards the woman who had ushered us in. I did not have my camera, my consent forms or my recorder but I wanted to hear the woman and listen to what she had to say – and this was genuine human/researcher curiosity combined. I wanted to know the woman for knowing’s sake, I wanted to know her to the extent possible and within those time limitations of course, rather than think of her as a subject and another number on my total number of interviewees list.

As it is my project had reached data saturation and had formally concluded only yesterday. So I walked toward her and addressing her as “Tai”(older sister), I asked her how she liked her job. She said she really liked it a lot. Then on some probing and some of her own initiative, I learned that she was an orphan and grew up in an orphanage all her life. She was married now and both her husband and mother-in-law supported this job of hers. She was paid Rs. 4500 which was great for a woman she said. She spoke about how proud she was of herself and how whenever she talked to her friends, they too were proud of her and her chosen profession. She said that she had wanted to be a nurse – was very interested in that but since her education was only until the 10^th she couldn’t pursue nursing. However, she did do her ITI which meant she learned welding and all other kinds of engineering jobs. In addition to this job, she also works at a shop on MG Road she said. What a hard worker! I congratulated her on her skills and wished her the very best in her profession while also mentioning that I felt very good about her doing this for herself and for standing on her own feet. I wished I could talk to her some more but she had to work and I had to leave since papa was done paying and we were ready to go. Yet another story of common every day people beating the odds and becoming a somebodies in their own right. Bharatiya nari…I am so proud of you! It cannot be stressed enough how absolutely true it is that we learn from every single person we meet in our lives and as Richard Bach rightly said it, all the situations and all the people in our life are there to teach us the lessons that only that moment or series of moments or interactions with them can teach us.

There are two sayings that I firmly believe in. First, everything that happens in our life is for a reason and with a definitive purpose and even if we don’t quite get it right then, the explanation will follow in some way, shape or form, sooner or later – it will just reveal itself to us and only then lead us to some genuine retrospective sensemaking. Second, every person we meet in our life is there to teach us a lesson, however trivial or enormous the scope of the lesson, that lesson could only have been imparted by that one person. More Suchisms on their way soon…

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