Tuesday 10 September 2013

Home-Maid Lessons



The relationships we share with our house-helps are usually a potpourri of emotions. Maids know how to open our best most charitable corner of the heart, every passing Diwali or daughter’s school fee day, whichever occurs more often. They also bring out the longest faces our visages can manage, what with those undeclared leaves right after taking 2 month’s salary in advance. I have seen myself going from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other like a pendulum oscillating drunk, for reasons which are every home’s story. She comes (or not comes) for an hour every day and helps me with what she is supposed to, at least with 60 per cent of the job profile that was pre-decided when I kept her. She seems happy, especially since the other residences are Houses of Horrors for her and mine a halka ghar, whatever that means. 

Houses of Horrors? She tells me bizarre stories of how some ‘momsters’ have asked her to clean verandas with cold water in peak winters and bare-foot please, the child may catch infection from her slippers. How her colleagues have often been falsely accused of eating burfis by the Madam, gossiping about Sir, having an affair with the driver, and being married to a murderer lodged in a village jail – all untruths and only spread to fire them and even keep another from hiring them. Their character certificates are written and re-written at the drop of a mop, and the stories continue - not just of how they treat us but also of how we women mistreat our own helps. 

This post is about my maid, who comes and goes with a big smile on her face, so I am assuming she is happy with me...

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6 comments:

  1. Well written article, Sakshi. Call it a coincidence, my maid was mopping my room while I was reading this article

    - Ashwin
    My World... My Words

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    Replies
    1. Yes, we can call that a coincidence. :) Thanks for stopping by, Ashwin!

      Delete
  2. Children do learn things so much better and faster when they unfold around them as examples. Thank you for reading, Ashwini. :)

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  3. oh talking about maids...I remember them to be resilient and yet tenacious. Always wondered what kind of genes they possess!

    Great read, Sakshi and a good take home lesson :)

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    Replies
    1. Yes, resilience is something that all of them have. Maybe it's not genes but circumstances? The stories you hear about their family lives, if true, can really make them tenacious. Thank for reading, Ruchira. :)

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    Homeschooling, when done well, can provide exceptional students and special-needs students (among others) with outstanding opportunities. Done poorly, it turns out illiterate "graduates" with little more than a brainwashing of religion. But we should be focusing on rebuilding our public schools. ALL of them.

    ReplyDelete

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