Bureaucrats' wives seek identity through work

They might not have made it proverbial ‘chhappar phaad kamai’ (huge earnings) for themselves. But many in Jharkhand have employed themselves gainfully in different fields-from running a beauty parlour to politics.

Wives of at least three officers are doctors, five are practicing lawyers, half a dozen are teachers and a few of them even belong to the central services. Wives of three bureaucrats run beauty parlours. While, the wife of a bureaucrat is a fashion designer, as many as six women, married to bureaucrats, are successful businesswomen in the state.
 Seema Patra, wife of IAS officer Maheshwar Patra, is an active Congress worker and has already tried her luck in the elections. Wives of some other high profile bureaucrats in Jharkhand have made foray into art and cultural fields as well. While Mili Sarkar, the wife of IAS officer A K Sarkar, runs a music and art school at her residence, IFS officer PC Mishra’s spouse is a noted Odissi danseuse. The list is long.Do they think that their husbands' position affect their functioning at work place. Yes, admit many.

According to Pushpa Mandal, wife of Jharkhand's former chief secretary, “When you work in an office, you are bound to have a circle of your colleagues. But the wife status of a high profile man has the telling effect also. Sometime my colleagues approach and want me address their problems through office of my husband. It is here I have to work with some limitation. I find it difficult to make everyone happy.”

Senior bureaucrat Sukhdeo Singh’s wife, Mini Singh, teaches in a reputed public School. The spouse of another IAS officer, who teaches in one of the city based school, however, feels alienated at work more because of her husband’s high profile status. “They think I am from a hi-fi society and my colleagues address me as ‘madam’ or ‘Mrs…’  They refuse to use my name and are reluctant to mix with me,” the woman added ruefully.
Though most bureaucrats are not against their wives engaging themselves in work, an IPS officer was candid enough to admit that he was not in favour his wife taking up a job. “I cannot tolerate my wife being pulled up by somebody in the office,” he says.