Women are in charge, once again of a job reserved for men in the patriarchal society, as attendants at a filling station. The conquerors are Usha and Jaswinder, aged 18 and 17, respectively, working as petrol filling attendants and doubling as cash attendants at Shyama Shyam filling station in Sector 35.

Quitting her job as a typist, Usha decided to take on the job of an attendant at a petrol pump. "I always had confidence in my abilities and wanted to prove myself and hence opted for this job," said Usha, beaming with confidence and pride. She has a younger brother and faced no objections from her family regarding the hardships of the job.

"The concept of having women as attendants at filling stations is very popular in the West and I wanted to introduce this to Chandigarh," said T.K.Bansal, the proprietor of the filling station who employed Usha and Jaswinder, interestingly, through a placement agency.

The elder of the two siblings, Jaswinder was an assistant with a doctor. Then what made her quit the job and take on the present one? "It is a challenging job and pays more," said Jaswinder.

Mere working on the filling station didn't settle down the young spirits. Both the girls are matriculate and are pursuing the study of class XII as private students. They are keen on finishing off their studies along with the job they have undertaken.

Bansal faces no problems from them, "Ladies are more reliable and efficient. They can be trusted easily and they give more results."

Usha and Jaswinder are setting an example in the city beautiful of strength and perseverance and sheer confidence of scaling newer heights in a domain strictly reserved for men.