Just the other day, I was about to leave for work when I got a frantic call from my maid’s brother. Sometimes, cell phones can really be a bane. She had had a fall and wasn’t in a position to come to work that day. I swear to God, had any of my office employees’ called to say the same thing, I’d have probably not minded as much. It’s a sad, sad reality. My heart came crashing down as I turned the key in the engine that day. Of course, I was worried about my helper’s injury but that really didn’t stop me from obsessing about my incomplete chores.
I returned home that day and had no one waiting to serve me the cup of warm tea I’m accustomed to. I made it myself after a hard day’s work. I proceeded to the back of the house where a pile of clothes lay strewn about. I looked at the dust accumulating on the dressing table-top and observed the stains on the floor where a few drops of tea had casually decided to fall the day before. On a normal day, these little things wouldn’t have come to my notice. But that’s because on a usual day, all of it would have been cleaned, tidied and done. Maybe it’s the way I look at them as “little things”. That should change.
I picked up the broom to begin sweeping the floors first. It seemed the most natural thing to do. I carefully started with the corners of the first bedroom. By the time I reached the door my back hurt, my hands ached and my body was crying in pain overall. I still had the clothes to do. The table tops to wipe. And not to mention, to cook for the rest of the family. I was ready to give up and scream.
Life in India is largely defined by the extent of its economical and widely available force of manual labor. We have helping hands to do everything for us. An average middle class family in any developed country doesn’t experience the same kind of luxury that we take for granted, day after day. As soon as you walk into your friend’s home, it’s the domestic help who’d sit you down and offer you a cup of tea in more cases than one. To be frank, our helps probably spend more time in our house, than we ourselves do. Managing a home is not an easy task. It takes a lot of regular effort, time and energy to actually make the house a home. Most households begin the new day with the mundane routine of getting the floors swept. In India, cleaning the insides of a home take top priority while maintaining the same regard for the city streets don’t… let’s be honest here.
An average domestic help here is expected to clean, arrange, cook, tidy and maybe even do other small time administrative tasks around the house. Some of us may choose to split the tasks among two or three people. We have the liberty of hiring people to do these everyday tasks and in short, to clean up after us minute after minute. What’s considered a “convenience” in most parts of the world is actually a way of life in our nation. Our maids, helpers, right-hand staff members, however you may deem fit to term it, make our lives easier, simpler, better. Yet, we often tend to find faults with the way they work, when they are late, if a task is not done on time.. the list is pretty much as endless as one can get.
Today’s generation of helpers are more exposed to modern day traditions and have the same needs that you and I do. They have emotions, they suffer when they fall and they are human. We often feel incomplete without our helpers. There lies a sense of failure or immense void when we don’t have one by our side all the time. In fact, this is why housewives or even working women spend hours complaining when their maid suddenly decides to take a holiday or just not show up at work.
You know, it takes talent, patience and a great deal of time to do your chores and to do it well. That day, I put myself in the shoes of my helper. She is expected to do all of this for a house that isn’t hers and more importantly for people who do not belong to her. Yet, for a small salary that helps keep her kids in school, she does it with a smile on her face. She shows up, everyday and mostly on time. Yes, there are times when she lacks the will to work well, but in the larger scheme of things, maybe I should let that go. I mean, it’s not I give her the Sunday off. I get one every week. I use it to relax. When does she? It requires talent to do these chores. It really does. Try it out for a day. Do everything your maid normally does for you, for a day. Rather, do it for the entire week without a break on the coming Sunday. While some may say that their bodies and minds are not attuned to it, I still refuse to believe that it qualifies as a justification.
This Diwali, rather this festive season for that matter, let’s try and throw some light on how important, useful and necessary our helpers are to us. Let’s acknowledge it for a change and maybe, just this one time – serve them a cup of tea instead.
Read more in The Unsung Talents series.