I was born in 1963 in a village near Satara. My father farmed our small piece of land, and my mother looked after the house and also worked on the farm. After 10th standard and a two-year ITI course as a fitter, I came to Pune at 18 and joined a small engineering workshop as a helper. I earned Rs 350 a month. There was no appointment letter, nothing. The owner just paid cash, and whatever was left I sent home to the village.
In 1988 a friend told me about a permanent post at an auto-parts factory in Bhosari. For twenty years I worked there as a machine operator, with PF, EPS pension and gratuity. That factory job was the only time I had proper PF. I married in 1990, our son was born in 1992 and our daughter in 1995, and my wife stayed at home with the children.
In 2008 the company was cutting staff and I took VRS. For eight months I had no job, and the VRS money was going fast on the children's fees. My son was in 11th and taking coaching classes for engineering entrance, and I had no job. I cut everything; we didn't even go to the village for Diwali. From mid-2009 I did daily-wage work at a friend's lathe workshop for about Rs 250 a day, with no PF, and learned the repair side of the trade. In 2010 I bought my own second-hand lathe and ran my own workshop until I turned 60. Now my son runs it, and I still sit there sometimes.
Today I live on my EPS pension of about Rs 2,100, interest on my fixed deposits and help from my son. It is enough only because my son helps. Most of it goes on medicines for my diabetes and my wife's knee. We never thought about old age. If I could, I would have kept the VRS money for the future. To young people I say: start saving with your very first salary, even Rs 100, and get a job with PF if you can.
"Twenty years in the factory gave me a pension of two thousand rupees. The rest of my life gave me nothing on paper."