Maid in India
By
Vivek Hande
We are a working couple
and have two growing sons. Consequently , a major issue in our
lives is the availability or the lack of domestic help. The Maid assumes larger
than life importance in our lives. The availability of an appropriate and a
reliable maid governs our social life and several other facets of our
life. With erratic working hours and ill timed visits to the hospital on
account of emergencies, the maid assumes a central role in our existence.
What my parents could not teach me, several years of domesticity and dealing
with maids of all shapes, sizes, caste, creed, temperament, religion and
linguistic preference has taught me in abundant measure. Patience ,tolerance,
humility, generosity, fortitude and a forgiving nature have become an intrinsic
part of my character. My mother can’t recognize me and my wife wonders
where these sterling traits disappear when it comes to my behaviour with her!
It has been a long journey and each of the ones on a very long list of maids
had something to teach me. Many years back, Shantamma, who was our maid then,
made it clear she would watch ‘Ramayan” in the mornings and “Santa Barbara”(a
juicy American soap) in the evenings on my newly acquired TV and work had to be
squeezed in between the two television offerings. Alice, a misguided spirit was
under the impression that my home was the local center for “Alcoholics
Anonymous”. After several trips to the hospital with her perennially inebriated
husband, I became an expert on Alcohol related liver diseases but we had to
march the couple on to someone more spirited than myself. Lata was very
religious and that was a good omen till I realized she was serving the good
lord more than us. Monday, she would want to visit the Lakshmi temple; Tuesday
was devoted to the famous Hanuman mandir; Wednesday was for the Hande family;
Thursday- a busy day; Sai Baba in the morning and Pir Baba at the Dargah in the
evening; Friday was immersed in Chitala Devi and after some respite on
Saturday, Mass at the Good Shepherd Church on Sunday was mandatory.
Unfortunately our needs were more earthly and we had to let this spiritual soul
drift away from us. Then came Saira; things seemed alright for sometime till I
started discovering a lot of people in town wearing my favourite shirts and
looking rather smart and trendy. She had to leave after depleting my wardrobe
considerably. To be fair ,there have been many who have been warm and kind and
affectionate and some have been sincere and honest too.
Needless to say, it has taken a lot of tact and patience dealing with the lot
and one has learnt many lessons along the way and one continues to learn each
day . I must let you onto a little secret. Knowledge of my tremendous
experience in dealing with maids has reached the precincts of the Indian
Institute of Management. The various IIMs have approached me to launch
their new MBA program on Maid Management and take over as the faculty
head in view of the tremendous interest and demand for the course. Needless to
say , I shall keep you posted on developments….
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