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'Spent my first salary on front-row seats to Mithun movie'

Last updated on: April 21, 2010 17:49 IST

We invited readers to share how much their first salary was and how they burst it up. Here we feature some of the fun, thoughtful, touching responses we received:

My first job was as a trainee in the service industry and I got no salary for the first three months. After three months I got a salary of Rs 2500 and I bought a Rs 1500 Titan watch for my mom. I was so happy when I gave it to my mom. She still has it.

-- S M Tariq, Team Leader, New Delhi

A person's first salary is always special no matter at what age or job you do.

I earned my first salary of Rs 25 at the age of 10, when I used to work part-time at my uncle's consumber durable shop. It was during my summer holidays, when I decided to make my holidays productive, that I earned my first pay.

It was fun, talking to customers, making a sale of spares and other small items, for which I had enough knowledge to sell. I bought some choclates and a front row movie ticket of Mithunda's movie Dance Dance which was a craze then!

-- Rahul Mathur

I started my career as a field investigator for a market research firm Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB). My job was to go to the filed and meet target respondents and take data on various products. I would get an amount of Rs 9 per interview and a incentive of Re 1 in case the superiors found the quality of data collection was good. I take pride till date that I always earned this incentive during my association with them for a year.

An amount of Rs 9 per interview may look meagre today but during those days, it was enough to interview 4-5 prospective respondents to make a handsome amount of Rs 50-60 a day.

-- Siddhartha, New Delhi

When I was eighteen I started working at a departmental store in the Flora Fountain area of Mumbai. Although I joined as a counter sales executive, the salary meant a lot to me as I had my parents and myself to support. Since that was my first job and I had joined the store at Diwali time, I was given a salary of Rs 750/ + Rs 500 bonus by my boss Mr Shabbir Dabbawala. I came home happy and gave my first salary to my mother who in turn gave me Rs 200 to buy myself a dress. I still cherish this memory as both the job as well as my mother are no more with me.

-- Nalini Kudalkar, Mumbai

Share your story by mailing us at getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject line 'My first salary' and tell us what your first job was, how much you got paid and what you did with your first salary. And we'll publish the responses right here on rediff.com! Don't forget to include your name, age, city and current job/ profession/ designation.

'I took my college roomies for a meal'

Last updated on: April 21, 2010 17:49 IST

I was in college at the time, studying in IHM Goa, just a first year student. I was offered a job at a Taj hotel for a big corporate party.

Hard work of 9 hours was rewarded Rs 100. I loved the feeling of when I got that money in my hand.

I went back to my hostel, took my roomies, Nitin Arya and Ranjeev for a nice meal. I can still feel the rush I had after getting my own money.

I earn a seven-figure salary now but those were the days and that was a special one.

-- Mukesh Thakur, United Kingdom

My first salary happened when I was studying in the second year of degree college and the job was of a "tutor". I gave tuitions to a Class XII boy. I got Rs 300 as my first salary and I bought one "piggy bank" from that salary as the first thing and rest was handed over to Mom.

-- Amit Jain

My first salary or the first time I was 'paid' for my services was when I was in college. I was in the final year of my BE (AEIE) from REC Rourkela, '99-'00 batch (now NIT Rourkela) and on the request of one of our professors, a few of us were asked to teach people the basics of programming in the IMPACT Lab. It was a sponsored programme that was held in our own computer lab, so we agreed (not that I had any reason to disagree though).

Since it was just for a few hours in the evening and that too twice or thrice a week, I found it really exciting and more so because I had a chance to learn along with them. After the course was over, I was paid around Rs 1,200 or so. More than the monety was the pride of earning my first salary. That day I realised that I had grown up and can take up more responsibilities in life.

I spent that entire amount on buying gifts for my family -- a saree each for my mom and my sister and a black coloured T-shirt for my dad. They treasured the gifts as a precious possession and I could see the feeling of pride in their eyes when I gifted it to them. My mom asked me why I did not buy anything for myself and I said that I'd do it with my next salary, but the fact remains that the "first salary" is always "first" and extremely "special". Today I have two more very special people in my life (my wife and my lil' daughter) and I wish I could earn my first salary all over again...

-- Bontha Murty, software development manager, Hyderabad

'I spent the money on a treat I could not enjoy'

Last updated on: April 21, 2010 17:49 IST

I am a graphic designer by profession. This takes me back to 1990, when I was working while studying.

I had got a project of designing the branding of a boutique in Sion and was very excited when I was done with the work and went to deliver it. The client liked my work and he paid me Rs 600. I was very happy and thought of buying some delicious samosas from Guru Kripa (Sion), the famous samosa outlet in Mumbai, with my first income.

I bought 24 samosas and got into the train. The train was crowded and I was standing at the door. A few minutes after the train left Sion station, a beggar standing near the tracks hit my hand with a stick and the bag fell. He snatched up the bag and ran away.

He didn't know that he was carrying 24 delicious samosas and must have enjoyed the treat on my behalf. :-)

-- Chandrashekhar Aher, Mumbai

My first job was in Shakthi Mills in Mumbai as a stenographer, back in June 1973. I was staying with my two elder brothers then.

I got my first salary of Rs 210 and I was very exited and kept it in my purse/pouch. When I reached home, my elder brother asked me for the salary and when I put my hand in my back pocket, I was shocked -- it had been stolen. My brother thought that I was lying.

For the last 27 years and even today I carry a purse, but with a picture of god in it and a single rupee note.

-- Viswanathan PA, general manager at an advertising agency in Bangalore

My final year Diploma Mechanical Engineering exams were over and I did not have anything to do except wait for my results. My parents belonged to a lower middle income group segment. If I am not wrong my father's monthly pay was around Rs 400 and my mother was a housewife. Life was hard but yet pleasant as like all other parents my parents too loved us a lot.

One of my classmates, namely Om Prakash Bhatia (who we fondly addressed as Omee) started working in a small industry situated at Nazafgarh Road, Delhi. The factory (read karkhana) was owned by someone known to him. One morning I decided to visit Omee's factory. He met me there and introduced me to the owner of another karkhana nearby, which was a type of machine shop. The owner of that karkhana needed a helping hand and asked me to take on some daily work. Though it was a dirty work, it felt great to have an offer. I decided to accept and started attending to the karkhana on regular basis.

The work was as such that by evening my clothes used to become too dirty due to which my mother had to wash my clothes daily. In the first week of the month I was paid Rs 175 as my monthly salary which was Rs 25 higher than Omee's. I was very happy.

In the evening I went home and handed over all the money to my mother. She took it from me, counted the money and asked me where I got it. I told her that it was my first salary. She looked at me, then she looked at the currency notes that she was holding and finally had a hard look at the clothes I was wearing. She was silent for a while, then with a smile she gave me the money back and said the soap that was required for washing my cloths was costlier then the amount of my salary so I should better stop working and save her from this vigorous labour she had to put in to wash my dirty clothes everyday.

I still remember that moment and the hug of my mom which she so affectionately gave me. That's what and how I remember my first salary.

-- Inder Vig, 60, Delhi

I earned my first salary by working 15 days at an engineering company in Pune, I received Rs 1,600 for the same and I have used Rs 800 for an application form for addmission to an MBA college in Hyderabad. Luckily I got into the MBA programme and then quit the job. However the first funding for my MBA was thorugh my own salary and I will never forget the same.

Though the experience was not great, that job motivated me to get into management!

-- Gajanan Bochare, Hyderabad