Keeping us connected

They’ve been together a long time – Suresh joined the Telephone Service 25 years ago, Moorthy 22 years ago and they make a fine team. While they come from different villages – Moorthy from Kuilapalayam and Suresh from Sanjeevinagar – it helps that they are cousins and have known each other almost from birth. However, it wasn’t always clear that they would end up working together.  

In 1990 Suresh was involved with construction work in Auroville. Later he became a painter and worked with fiberglass at Matrimandir. Moorthy studied at Isaiambalam School before training to become a cook at New Creation Corner, one of Auroville’s most popular former restaurants.   

But Suresh had wanted to work with the Telephone Service for a long time and finally got his chance in 1993. Moorthy joined him in 1998.

So what’s the attraction?

“No two days are ever the same,” says Suresh, “and there’s a lot of satisfaction in solving people’s problems.” Their day begins at 8 am every morning when they are given a list of jobs. Recently, after a major lightning strike, many of those involve rectifying faults in telephone lines. But the usual work also involves climbing telephone poles to check insulators, digging up burnt or fractured cables (construction workers seem curiously adept at puncturing lines with pickaxes or mechanical diggers) and checking distribution boxes. 

“Quite often we open a distribution box to find a snake inside,” says Suresh, “but we’re not bothered by things like this.” 

“It can be very difficult,” says Moorthy. “We work in all weathers and sometimes at night, when we may have only a moped light to work by. Recently we had a job list of 100 faulty lines, and everyone thinks their problem is the most urgent! We feel the pressure – we are the only two people in the Telephone Service who are working in the field, the others are in the office – but we give priority to old people and those who have sick parents abroad.”

Suresh points out that their work has become more complex. “Before the Internet, people just had a dial-up connection. The Internet requires a much more sensitive line, so there is more work for us now because there are more faults and sometimes it’s difficult to find them. Just fixing one internet connection can take us a whole day.” 

“This is why we are working on improving the quality of the lines in Auroville,” says Moorthy. “We are putting all lines underground and providing proper connection boxes. This will give us less work in the future.”

Suresh confirms they are always planning improvements. He has made a drawing of the location of all the telephone lines in Auroville so they can identify the weak spots, and also developed his own high-tech system which helps him find faults underground. “In a couple of years, fiber-optic cables will be everywhere and this will reduce our work. For example, they are not affected by lightning strikes.”

Both Suresh and Moorthy are highly skilled at what they do. Have they never thought about taking their skills elsewhere, for example working with BSNL which offers much higher wages?

“It’s true that they pay much better,” says Suresh. “A BSNL man behind a desk selling SIM cards gets Rs 55,000 a month,  which is much more than us for much less work. But I wouldn’t work for them. In 2004 I got a government job in Pondicherry in the judicial department. It was a temporary job but after five years it would have been permanent. But I didn’t like it at all: I left after two days. I want to be with people I like and who appreciate my work.”

“After joining here, I never looked elsewhere for a job,” says Moorthy. “Anyway, this is the only work we know. I am 40 years old now, Suresh is 45. How can we find other work?”

Neither Suresh nor Moorthy are Aurovilians. Have they ever considered joining?

Suresh mentions that his family has been involved with Auroville from the beginning: his grandfather and uncle worked on the Matrimandir in the early days. “As a child I used to come to Auroville and dreamed of joining, but now I don’t feel I’m losing by not being an Aurovilian: everybody already treats us as one.  We don’t have a Financial Service account, that’s the only difference.” Both admit, however, that sometimes they still think of joining. But there are obstacles. Suresh would have to find a place to live in Auroville. Moorthy already lives in Auroville, in Sangamam community, but he says that at present he cannot afford all the financial contributions he would have to make as a Newcomer and Aurovilian.

And they have other commitments. Both of them have families.  “Our son wants to become an Indian Police Service officer, so I worry about giving him a good education,” says Suresh. “We buy many things to improve his general knowledge. My daughter is now studying for the JIPMER entrance exam, so she is getting extra coaching. All this costs money.” 

Moorthy’s young daughter is studying in a private school. “When I ask her what she would like to do, she tells me many things. Sometimes it’s a teacher, sometimes a nurse.”

They have known Auroville for many years. What are the changes they’ve noticed?

Moorthy notes that there is much more construction work going on now and many people from the local villages are finding work here. “I think these are good changes.”

Suresh regrets, however, that many of the pioneers are no longer here. “A lot of new people are coming, but they are different somehow. And there’s more talk, it’s more political now: we go everywhere, so we know all the stories. But we don’t get involved.” 

He still feels, however, that the ideals of Auroville make it a very different place from the village. “Mother said that everything in Auroville should be shared – nothing belongs only to you – and this is a place where everybody is equal. These things are important.”