Dreaming younghe

8216;8216;Delhi shocks me. Simply because I come from the Northeast, I am looked at differently,8217;8217; she says bitterly. 8216;8216;In Manipur, we value women. But here, my looks work to my disadvantage, people take me lightly.8217;8217; Irina has been in the Capital for the last three years but she confesses to feeling like a stranger8212;and fighting that feeling.

Irina, a Meitei from Bamon Leikai village in Imphal, says her early years in Imphal were guarded: no one expected the youngest child of the family to venture out of the state, definitely not to earn a livelihood. But after her father8217;s death, she had to work her way out of financial difficulties and personal grief.

8216;8216;I took up private tuitions and a teaching job in a local school to earn pocket money. Though all my brothers had jobs with the state government, money was always a luxury since none of them ever got salaries on time. And when they did, like everyone else in Manipur, they paid two taxes: one to the government and the other to the insurgents,8217;8217; she says.

In 2002, Irina, the last of her parents8217; eight children, witnessed another family tragedy: one of her five brothers died of HIV when he was 32. 8216;8216;He died in suffering. He didn8217;t tell us that he had contracted the disease. He didn8217;t opt for medication because of the stigma that comes with the disease. He didn8217;t marry either,8217;8217; she says.

That8217;s when Irina decided she had to leave the security of her home. She was selected for a course in 8216;service industry management8217; at a Chandigrah institute. Irina8217;s first job as hospitality trainee with a Delhi hotel was a breeze8212;she gave her best to the job. But after four months and frequent changes in her job profile, she quit. 8216;8216;I realised it was not my calling. After a hard day8217;s work, I would cry in the locker room. I faced discrimination despite my good performance simply because I looked different. I decided to study further,8217;8217; she says.

She took up a course in public administration at Jamia Millia Isliamia and topped the grades. A two-month internship with the Planning Commission of India followed after which she landed a job as assistant programme officer in the Communications Department of the Wildlife Trust of India.

A steady job may have arrived but Irina8217;s struggles with the Capital continue. 8216;8216;Every day is a fight8212;with the autowallahs, landlords8230; But there8217;s a lot of competition here which we don8217;t see in Manipur. Here you feels like moving ahead. It8217;s a sea of opportunities. I am learning to adjust,8217;8217; she says.

So that8217;s the secret behind her resolve.

Strength in numbers

India

8226; At 540 million, the country has the largest youth population in the world

8226; Youth 10-24 account for 17.7 per cent of the country8217;s population

8226; By 2015, the population council predicts there will be 240 million adolescents 10-19 years in India.

8226; Despite talks of a booming economy, over 3 crore youth in India are employed

US

8226; Between 1960 and 1975, the number of young adults 14 to 24 years increased from 15 to 21 per cent of the population

8226; Their proportion declined after 1975 to 15 per cent in 1996

8226; In 2002, people between 14 and 24 constituted 15.5 per cent of the US population

UK

8226; In 2005, of the approximately 60.2 million population, approximately 11.6 million are youngsters under 16