Trade and Vocational Training

Twenty years in this house and not one rupee of it mine. Then my jethani's machine came free and I started taking in stitching. I did not tell anybody which day I would start on, because this time nobody had to be told. I knew which days you do not begin a thing on and I kept off them.

My younger boy went into town to learn welding, because four acres will not feed three families and he worked that out before I did. He picked up the torch on a day I chose for him, which is the last decision of his I am going to get to make.

My grandson left college to train as a barber and his mother cried for a week about it. I did not argue with him and I did not argue with her. I asked him only to start on a proper day, and he did, and that was the whole of my part in it.

My son took a carpentry apprenticeship instead of a university place and I had to make my peace with it. What I could do was have the first day computed for Melbourne, with our sunrise, not an Indian date with a note telling me to adjust.