A Visit to K'V'Kuppam

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A Visit to K.V.Kuppam

• Tamil Nadu
• South India

Case Study 2
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This is Gurunadhan with his wife Amudah and
their two children, Saravanan who was born in
1993 and his sister Sasikala, born in 1995.
Meet Gurunadhan and his family
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Gurunadhans family are very pleased with their
modern new home which they bought with a housing
loan from the co-op bank. They will pay RS 1500
per month for 13 years to repay the loan. They
have no land. The house has a main room which is
called the Hall, a kitchen, a small puja room
and a bedroom. There is also a bathroom with an
Indian Water Closet. The flat roof makes it
possible to extend the property in the future.
The family home in Veppanganeri, K.V.Kuppam
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Gurunadhan was born in Veppanganeri in 1963 and
attended school until 8th Standard. He said his
family were very poor. He left school when he was
13 years old and trained with a private tailor in
his village. He earned only Rs 15-20 per day.
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Gurunadhan was one of the young tailors who
joined the newly formed Bishopston Trading
Company in 1985. He said he was chosen because of
his skill and willingness to learn. He was paid
Rs 9 per day for four weeks while he was training
and then he moved on to piece work.
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As a member of the Veppanganeri Tailoring Society
Gurunadhan has worked hard and progressed to his
present position. 1986-1988 Tailor 1988-1991
Cutting Master 1991-1996 Tailoring Supervisor
Since 1997 Gurunadhan has been Chief Cutter.
Its his responsibility to cut all new patterns
and check the quality of the work done by other
Cutters.
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Since late 2005 Gurunadhan has worked in the new
purpose built Fair Trade factory.
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GURUNADHANS DAILY ROUTINE

• Gurunadhan works 8 hours a day, 6 days a
• week, with an hour for lunch and two tea
• Breaks.
• The benefits he receives from fair trade
• employment include
• A gift of Rs 750 for Pongal and Divali
• Provident fund
• Gratuity paid at retirement
• Holiday entitlement- 10 festivals a year
• Casual leave-15 days
• Medical leave-15 days
• Holiday as a salaried staff member
• Medical help

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6am Gurunadhan rises and after washing he
helps his wife by doing some pattern cutting for
her 8am Breakfast usually Ragi balls
made from a type of millet 8.30am Off to work
at the factory, on the motor bike provided by
Bishopston Trading Company, cutting new patterns
from the UK and supervising or training pattern
cutters. 1.00pm Home for lunch of rice and
sambhar 2.00pm Back to the factory 6pm
Home time
In the evening Gurunadhan has a supper of rice,
chapatti and sambhar with potato chutney.
Sometimes he will cut more patterns for
Amudah. He does not have much time for
socialising with friends. He likes to watch the
news on TV and enjoys the cricket but most of his
time is spent working.
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Gurunadhan enjoys his work. He believes he is
very fortunate to be involved with a Fair Trade
company. He now earns Rs 5,000 per month less
10 which is paid into a provident fund for his
retirement. He doesnt forget what it was like
when his family were poor and he helps out with
charitable work through the Tailoring Unit.
Gurunadhan gave up his time to make two sets of
school uniforms for Sudha and Kartick who live
with their disabled father.
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the rest of the family
The childrens future is the familys prime
concern. Gurunadhan and Amudah are very proud of
Saravanan and Sasikala.
Saravanan and Sasikala
Amudah
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Studying hard
Saravanan attended the private Bharthat
Metriculation School from Lower Kindergarten to
5th Standard. His parents paid Rs 3,000 per year
for his early private schooling, plus Rs 100 per
month for extra tuition, to give him a good
start. Gurunadhan thinks that the government
schools are improving now so he moved his son to
the Government Boys High School when he was 11
years old. They still pay Rs100 per month for
tuition as do most secondary pupils. Saravanan
studies hard and does well in his exams. In his
spare time he enjoys doing homework and playing
cricket. He would like to join the army.
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Sasikala attends a private convent school and is
taught in English. It is difficult for her to
practise her English as the family speak Tamil at
home. She may move to the government higher
secondary school when she is older. Gurunadhan
thinks that Christian Schools give a good
education and they visited the school and spoke
to teachers before deciding to send their
daughter there. They meet with her teacher each
year and she has monthly tests and progress
reports. She learns by rote. Sasikala has one
teacher for all subjects and learns English,
Tamil, Maths, Science, Social Science, Computer
Science, Moral Science (Religion) and Hindi.
Government schools do not teach Hindi! She has
games for 30 minutes every Friday- cricket,
kabbadi (a local game), jumping, running and
skipping.
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Sasikala wears a school uniform which is a
pinafore and short sleeved blouse made by her
mother. She finishes school at 4.30pm and has
two hours homework every evening. Between 5-7pm
she and her brother attend extra tuition classes
and they do some of the homework in tuition time.
If it isnt finished in the evening they do it
before school the next day. She is very keen to
learn, loves maths and computer games and wants
to be a doctor.
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Amudah comes from the neighbouring state of
Andra Pradesh and her first language is Telegu.
Many people in the area of K.V.Kuppam speak
Telegu as well as Tamil. She left school after
10th Standard, when she was 15 years old, as the
Government Higher Secondary School was too far
away from her home and her parents would not pay
the transport. Instead she trained as a tailor.
Amudah married Gurunadhan in 1992. Both of them
are from the same caste and it was an arranged
marriage. She can earn a little money making
sari blouses in her home. She charges Rs 12 per
sari blouse which takes one hour to make. She can
make up to five a day if work is available.
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AMUDHAS DAILY ROUTINE
Amudha has full responsibility for the day to
day running of the home as well as her tailoring
work. Like most men in the village Gurunadhan
does not get involved with household chores.
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4am Amudah rises and washes. Outside
she sprinkles water and makes Kolam patterns on
the ground to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi into
the house. This is very important as Lakshmi is
the Goddess of money and Amudha knows how
important money is to give the family a good
life. She heats water on a clay stove so the
children can wash in warm water and she can wash
the cooking pots from the night before.
6am When the water is turned on
Amudha collects drinking water from the stand
pipe in the street and begins to prepare
breakfast for the family. 8am Breakfast
usually Ragi balls made from a type of
millet 8.30am She sees the children off to
school and begins to prepare rice and sambhar for
lunch. When her household chores are complete she
works on her sewing.
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1.00pm Gurunadhan comes home for lunch of
rice and sambhar. 2.00pm Amudah washes the
dishes and continues making sari blouses. 4pm
Amudah prepares the evening meal. She must
sift and clean the rice and boil it on the gas
stove until it is sticky. She makes chapattis and
cooks sambhar and a potato or tomato chutney.
This is hard work as everything has to be
prepared from scratch. There are no ready made
meals available in K.V.Kuppam. 7.00pm The
children are home from tuition which is from
5-7pm. Amudah is unable to help with their
studies as she was taught in Telegu.
After supper the family may watch a little
television before bed time if all the work is
done.
Amudah is proud of her kitchen
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The family are careful to live within their
budget. They work hard and their childrens
education is given priority. They understand
about good nutrition and are fortunate to be able
to have a more varied diet than some village
families. They do not have holidays like people
in the UK do. Instead they will visit one of the
large Hindu temples each year at festival time.
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Family Monthly Expenditure
This does not include clothing (Amudha saves cost
of school uniforms by making them herself) ,
school books and other household expenses. The
family do not have holidays as such but each year
they save for a family trip to one of the famous
Tamil Nadu Temples.