AS a commerce graduate, his future seemed reassuringly bright.

But this Indian national's career path has since taken a drastically disastrous twist.

Mr Durai Raj, 40, has gone from Madurai Kamaraj University graduate to stock market data-analyst in Mumbai, India, to construction worker in Singapore.

Now, he doesn't even have a job because of injuries to his hand and nerves. And he is deeply in debt.
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After graduating in 1992, Mr Durai was hired by a finance company to crunch and analyse stock market data.

For five years, he drew a monthly salary of 10,000 rupees ($316).

He gave all that up to toil at Singapore construction sites.

That was until November, when he injured his right arm.

Why did he give up a seemingly promising career for hard labour?

The reason is simple, Mr Durai said: Money.

In Singapore, he made $700 a month - more than double the pay he earned in his analyst job.

Mr Durai, who showed The New Paper on Sunday copies of his university transcript, said he first worked in Singapore in 2003 for a year-long stint, and then returned home two years ago (2006).

He said with a sigh: 'Sometimes, I think I really suffered. In construction, you work so hard, spend 100 per cent of your energy and it is very stressful because people are always asking if you have finished your work or not.

'Now my hand is injured and I can't sleep properly at night because of the pain.'

Looking back to his happier days, Mr Durai said he remembers being a bookworm.

He was fond of books on statistics and economics.

LIFE CHANGED

But his life took a turn when he gave up his city-based career as an analyst to get married.

His wife, 30, wanted to live in the countryside in Tamil Nadu.

So he became a farmer, using the three hectares of his family land to grow crops and plants such as banana, lilies and jasmine flowers.

But farming was unpredictable because of the weather and he sought help from a job agent in India.

The agent took about 700,000 rupees (about $22,000) from him and disappeared.

Mr Durai had to borrow money from moneylenders and sell his property.

Desperate, the father of two daughters, now aged 10 and 4, took up the suggestion of his neighbours to work in Singapore.

Mr Durai said: 'It is very difficult to find a job in India and you can't earn much money.

'They told me if I go to Singapore, I can earn more money. That's why I went.'

However, his passage here, brokered by a job agent in India, meant having to fork out more money.

During his two stints to Singapore, he had to pay the agent 330,000 rupees ($105,000), a sum which he borrowed from friends and the bank.

Last November, while he was working here, a sharp steel plate fell on his right hand, and the deep wound required 23 stitches. It left a jagged scar.

And while it seems to have largely healed on the surface, Mr Durai claims his entire right arm still hurts when he writes or carries things.

The injury forced him to quit his construction job.

While he has paid off some of his debts, there is still about 200,000 rupees outstanding.

However, Mr Durai, who is Christian, is not bitter.

He said: 'I'm not angry. Angry for what? There's no use, it's meaningless to be angry.'

He is waiting for his passage back to India, which he says his company is arranging for him.

The company also paid his medical bills of $10,000 and gives him $12 a day for his expenses.

This goes to his rent of $5 a day at a shophouse in Little India with other workers, and for his daily expenses such as meals.

What also helps is the weekday breakfast programme at Sutha's Restaurant on Cuff Road in Little India.

There, he receives a free breakfast meal, thanks to public donations through Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2).

Miss Sha Najak, a telephone helpline manager at TWC2, who got to know Mr Durai earlier this year at the launch of the programme, said: 'When you speak to him, you definitely get the sense that he's quite educated.'

For instance, she noted that Mr Durai would visit the mens' shelter run by Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) to read English and Tamil newspapers online.

She added: 'He's definitely literate and his English is quite good.'

Does he intend to return to Singapore?

No, he said, he won't be trying his luck again.

He plans to help a friend with his farming business.

Even though this means less money for his family, he said: 'I earn less, but at least I can be with my wife and children.'

NOT MANY WORKERS WITH DEGREES HERE

MR DURAI RAJ isn't the only construction worker here who is a university graduate.

Last week, AFP carried a report on Mr T Junardhan, a 23-year-old construction worker from India who also holds a degree in accountancy.

Like Mr Durai, Mr Junardhan, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, came to Singapore to work in construction because it offered a higher wage than what he would have received as an accountant back home.

Still, degree-toting construction workers are a rare breed here.

A construction contractor, Mr Abul Kalam, 45, who hires Bangladeshi workers, said that he has met about 11 workers with university degrees over the 16 years that he has been in the business.

He said: 'Most don't have a degree. They usually study until high school.'

Mr Abul Kalam said that having a degree meant that a worker could earn about $400 to $600 a month as a supervisor, as opposed to $200 as a general labourer.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 25, 2008.