Shiju, you and Subhashish have been volunteers but now you are paid
contractors hired by the Foundation. Any work you do within the purview
of your contractual relationship with the Foundation will be work as a
paid contractor and cannot be deemed to be the same as a volunteer. You
can continue being volunteers once your contractual assignment is
complete. Is that so difficult to understand?
Let me first explain what he was trying to refer to. He called you a volunteer, from the Latin word voluntarius[1], meaning voluntary or willing. The noun form [2] describes it as -
1.One who enters into, or offers for, any service of his/her own free will, especially when done without pay.
I'm not sure what you are reacting to. It is a simple distinction between paid and non-paid effort. You were a community member, you still are, and you shall remain one until you choose to leave it.
You are however, currently a paid employee, there is a very clear distinction between volunteers and staff. I assure you it exists on en.wp and outside India when the senior staff interact and talk about other community members, they always use the word "volunteers" as opposed to "staff". You can check with this in several hundred of Sue and Barry's email if you like. The distinction is paid vs. non-paid, nothing more. This extends to community members and beyond.
There is no reason to be angry over this, it's just terminology and possibly a misunderstanding.
Let me ask you a basic question. Are you with wikimedia movement for helping it or for screwing it up. I was going through the replies and your wiki contributions over the past few months. What is your intention in being with Wikimedia movement in India.
No one should be asking that question to another community member. I can ask you that, you can ask me, it is all a matter of perspective. We are only accountable to ourselves, and what we choose to do or say.
I would ask you to please calm down and don't take this as an offense. It's probably just a misunderstanding with terminology that is usually applied in these situations.
Regards
Theo