VELLORE: If you are on a visit to Hotel Paavai, a run-of-the-mill restaurant just a stone’s throw away from the Christian Medical College in Vellore, you can’t miss K Durga. She is busy beating the dough, rolling it flat and flipping it multiple times before placing it on the hot pan, near the restaurant’s entrance. In a few seconds, soft, flaky and layered parotta comes out fresh of the pan. She makes hundreds of them a day.
Served with hot and spicy gravy and loved by many for its taste, parotta, the flatbread made of refined wheat flour, is now ubiquitous across the State. Those engaged in preparing it are commonly known as ‘parotta masters’, and the occupation has long been a bastion of men.
The 28-year-old Durga has broken the stereotype. “This is a job that demands hard labour, and when a woman takes it up, it’s more than that,” she says. She starts her job at 11 am and it goes on till about 9 pm. Exhibiting a bold demeanour and engaging in conversations only when it’s necessary, the mother of a young girl swiftly juggles between multiple tasks – preparing the dough, making the parotta, taking orders, and handling bills. Her customers are extremely happy with the kind of fluffy parotta she prepares in dozens. There is a steady stream of regulars.
E Mohan, the hotel manager, is pleasantly surprised by her commitment. “The job is done easy when you’re preparing it for a few members in your family. Here it’s a business involving hundreds of customers a day. It was indeed challenging initially, but Durga is able to manage it all well, now.”
His wife M Karpagam, who too manages the affairs of the restaurant, tells us what drove Durga into this profession. “She joined at work here due to the poor economic conditions of her family. Years went by quickly and she left the job after she got married. As fate would have it, she lost her husband and was left to fend for her daughter all by herself.”
Durga, now earning Rs 15,000, entered the occupation in 2015. She has left her daughter in the care of her mother-in-law. “I’m working all day to provide my daughter good education,” she says. “Years of experience have taught me a lesson, which is to work sincerely and responsibly,” Durga signs off.