Maid in India

Maid in India

Gone are those days when maid was just a maid and the lady of the house was the boss. Now we(being the home ministers) are afraid of them and take care of them too much than required out of fear. Do you agree?

Well, I was at my friend Bhakti’s place last weekend. We were having tea and some snacks. The bell on the front door jingled.

Her maid Hina came and without looking at anyone, went straight inside the kitchen for cleaning utensils, it was like an arrow has been fired by the archer straight to it’s directed point kitchen.

And guess what , as soon as she entered in the bathroom , a loud sound of water pouring into an empty bucket started coming from inside.

Why all these maids need big force of water from beginning only? 

Anyways, my friend whispered in my ears , “see now, she will wash all utensils  even before our tea finishes”

I nodded. “Actually ! I don’t understand what kind of urgency they have to finish all work in hurry. You know what, in speed of working, my maid should get the Gold medal”

“No no no… my maid is super fast ”, Bhakti was fighting as if her maid should not loose that virtual gold medal.

“No yaar… My maid just hold the utensils under the running water..and it’s done. So I declare here that ‘my’ maid is faster than yours.”

See, once you get married, your topic of discussion changes from careers to mostly domestic stuffs like maids, current prices of onions, dishes which can be made without onions, savings, breakfast items for kids. 

So, there was a little fun filled debate between both of us over whose maid works faster than other with more water wastage. Finally we came to a conclusion that both deserve the same medal.

You might be thinking that your maid is the most deserving candidate for this medal. Right ? 

Anyways, we were laughing on that and Hina came with a broom in her hand. Oh god ! we got alert and silent at the same time. I took both my legs up as a obedient child and sat on the couch, so that she could clean the place.

We pretended to be busy in our talk but silently kept on observing her. Whole living room (except the borders) was cleaned immediately.

Then she went into the bedroom. No need to say, the water bucket in the bathroom was already filled , throwing extra water on the floor with equal force. Bhakti got up and went inside to close the tap.

As soon as there was a pause in water flowing sound, Hina roared from the bedroom , “Don’t close the tap didi, I need to wash the bathroom floor”

How dare my friend stop the much needed background music for maids while working  ! 

“The bucket is already full Hina. Why to waste the water?” Bhakti questioned her.

“It’s not wastage madam. At your home, I need more water. Your bathroom is the biggest bathroom among all the homes where I work. ”

I could not understand whether it was a compliment or a complaint. 

Bhakti came to living room again and sat beside me. I think she took it as a compliment.

Next 10 minutes more in cleaning , Hina rushed to the door, and in a second, she was gone.

(Similar to her entry, her exit was the same arrow going in reverse direction with little raise in the speed. Obivio! )

“See. This is her style of working. She is in a hurry every day”, Bhakti was complaining.

“Don’t worry, same story at my side”

“Why can’t we dare to shout at them?”

“Because we need them. I don’t have enough guts to tell and highlight her mistakes”

“That’s why they are taking advantage. Doing small and pretending big”

“Leave it dear. They are almost part of the family now, isn’t it?”

“Seriously yaar. In fact sometimes they are more than a family.”

“What ?”

“Yah ! There are some ladies who takes too much of care about their maids”

“Hmmm ! And have you observed? these maids are very productive at such places ” I said.

“Can you imagine, in my cousin’s wedding, her maid got a heavy work designer saree worth of 6000 Rupees by my aunty.” , Bhakti ignited the new hot topic.

“What ?? Unbelievable! Who buy such expensive gifts for maids ?” I asked.

“my maasi is too much caring for her maid. When uncle asked her about why was she buying such costly saree for  a maid, aunty got very emotional, and said, Kamal is our first maid and she is serving us since so many years, if I buy her a 500 rupees saree, what she will think about me? “

I laughed out …”Seriously??? And your uncle didn’t say anything?” I was surprised.

“Of course ! he said why do you even bother for such unnecessary things?”

“Then ?” I was curious to know.

“Then what ? My maasi was like a lawyer, she said,  ‘bother ? she deserves more than that, how can you forget about her endless help in our daughter’s engagement, when our house was full of guests ‘?”

“Oh…that’s understandable. I think her maid might be really good and helping”

“Wait… on this also uncle said that she asked for extra payment for that month. But my aunty was not ready to get defeated by him. She continued to praise, ‘remember? she used to come even after dinner also to clean the house again. Those 2-3 days she almost saved me. And my maasi’s emotional speech in turn made uncle speechless.”

I smiled and said, “ He must be thinking that this maid is getting such nice treatment and hospitality, more than any lady from the groom’s side.”

“Seriously. ” Bhakti got up to clear the table.

Then we talked about many such experiences of maids. And laughed so much that our cheeks started to hurt.

I agree, that we make fun out of their work style, but I always enjoy whenever my maid ask my opinion about whom to vote, which mobile to buy, or every so often asks me to read some messages in her mobile, how to use whatsapp and many such things ; no matter how she works.

Instead of helping beggars, I try to give as much as possible to my maid in India.  I feel a sense of relief after seeing her daily morning.

I believe that this maids community is the biggest helping hand for us in everything. So the famous phrase ‘behind every successful man there is a woman’ actually has another and different shade as ‘ behind every successful woman, there is a maid’.

And on a serious note, the most horrifying thing in this world is that when you get a call from your maid in the morning and she says ,“I am not coming”