Initially we used to go daily for work from home; since it was difficult we went and stayed at the hostel. Our salary one day was 220 rupees. My mother used to visit us once in a month. We thought we could take rest in the hostel but it was not so. We were forced to do overtime and also clean the machines after work since we were in the hostel. Also the supervisor troubled us much. He used to always be looking at us with a silly smile. If we are not careful he might do anything to us. One day I decided to be at the hostel because of stomach pain during menstruation. As I was lying down someone came and gave me slap on my cheek; it was my hostel warden. She started to scold me by saying you are always saying some lame excuse to not go for work. Weekly once four of us had to join and clean the toilets; it was very difficult and I used to cry. When my mother came to visit us we cried to her and told all our troubles and asked her to take us home. So my mother came and took us with her and got the salary the very next week. After that we worked in the mills for six months. There also they would ask us to do lot of overtime. We did not continue and when we went and asked the provident fund money they refused to give us saying if you work only for six months it does not belong to you but to the government.
As told to the Institute of Development Studies for their report 'Patterns and Dynamics of Bonded Labour and Child Labour in the Spinning Mills of Tamil Nadu: Findings from Life Story Analysis'
