ARRIVAL LOUNGE
CANADA SUITS IMMIGRANT TO A TEE
Sujata Das: “A typical Indian housewife” work hard to find her feet in Canada.
By SHIPRA CHAUDHURY
Sujata Das, born and raised in India, never imagined herself in any role other than that of a typical Indian housewife.
After all, she checked all the traditional boxes – completed her schooling in an Indian language, mastered the art of Indian classical dance, got married in 1987, and seamlessly transformed into the ideal middle-class homemaker after moving to the steel city of Durgapur and later Rourkela in India. Her days were taken up making chapatis, chasing after her son Preethul, and ensuring her husband Debasish never left home without a lovingly packed tiffin. Everything was running like a well-oiled machine – until the global economy decided to pull the rug from under their feet.
SAIL (Steel Authority of India), where her husband worked, was wobbling like an overfilled pressure cooker about to burst. And just like a hasty decision to skip soaking the chana for chhole, the family decided to move to Canada – without much thought, research, or, frankly, common sense. And to their good luck, they got their PR within a year. So that was the easy part. The real adventure began after landing in Canada in July 2001.
Canada, as it turned out, had no “housewife” designation. Unlike back home, where being a homemaker was a full-time, unpaid yet highly respected job, in Canada, she found she had to pitch in. While her husband was still in the process of finding meaningful employment, Das had to take the lead – an idea as foreign to her as pineapple on pizza.
With limited English skills and a resumé boasting extensive experience in “home management” (which didn’t appear to impress Canadian employers), her job hunt was more terrifying than watching a horror movie alone. Finally, she landed a labour job in a manufacturing company in Etobicoke. Realizing that survival in Canada required more than just sheer willpower, she enrolled in a part-time quality control course at Humber College. Based on her amiable approach, dedication and her learning agility, she was promoted to quality control coordinator within a year, even before completion of the course.
Life was finally settling down, and they moved to Whitby, thanks to her husband securing a job at Ontario Power Generation. Das landed another role at a subsidiary of General Motors, blissfully unaware that the phrase “smooth sailing” did not apply to her life. In 2007, GM, much like Das’s dreams of a stable job, came crashing down. Layoffs spread, and soon she found herself jobless again.
Disappointed but not defeated, she found a silver lining when the government announced financial support for people who wanted to switch careers.
“After much discussion with my husband, I decided to enter the medical field – one industry that recession couldn’t touch,” says Das.
“If there is a will, there are more than a hundred ways to succeed in Canada.”
She enrolled at Trillium College, Oshawa, to become a medical laboratory technician. “If I had known what was coming my way, I might have reconsidered,” she laughs, sharing a humorous story. “The final semester required students to draw five blood samples. Simple, right? But not for me. The moment I saw blood, my hands started shaking like a tabla player on a caffeine overdose. My classmates, sensing impending doom, refused to volunteer. Finally, I dragged my husband into the lab. But instead of reassuring him, my trembling hands made him question all his life choices! After much deliberation (and an embarrassing amount of trial and error), I finally managed to pass– under the condition that I would never be allowed near a syringe again. Instead, I was assigned to cardio technician duties!”
Since 2009, Das has been working happily at a clinic, scanning hearts instead of poking veins. Looking back, she can’t believe how far she has come – from an uncertain immigrant struggling to find work to a professional with a career she never imagined for herself.
When asked what she loves most about Canada, she beams, “Everything! The fresh air, the lovely people, the excellent quality of life, and most of all, its diversity. I love playing golf, and this is one of my many hobbies that I developed here in Toronto.
“If there is a will, there are more than a hundred ways to succeed in Canada. And don’t be afraid of change – just maybe avoid blood collection if you have shaky hands like me!”
• If you’d like to share the story of your arrival in Canada, please write to desinews@rogers.com or call 416-695-4357