THE SERVANT MAID
If someone could easily be branded ‘recalcitrant’ it should be the servant maid. None needs to entertain an iota of doubt over my statement or assertion. Possibly, the latter fits the most. Yes, as early as the times of Poet Subramanya Bharathi, these persons have stuck to the tradition of recalcitrance as a part of their professional acumen. From which school of management these people graduate is a curious issue to understand. Yes, no matter where this clan works- a metropolis, a city, a town, a village or a hamlet -non-descript so to say, they have uniform code of [mis]conduct. Am I any opposed to their mode of living? Not at all, but, I do suffer their idiosyncrasies that draw me to the brink of patience, whoever I have engaged for the job. All the same, as Poet Bharathi had put it, sans them several things grind to a halt even when they step in late for the day’s chores allotted to them. They are the excellent human resources to get on to your nerves and can conveniently deliver unabated replies to all steaming hot questions. Keeping cool on the face of adversity is their forte that readily justifies their being on the faculty of some Management Schools to ‘teach’ composure’ as a subject.
What makes them a distinct ‘brand’?
They imbibe all cultures/social practices typical to their place of living. [Yes, even if migrants they quickly adapt to the habits, customs, dress pattern with no hesitation.] You and I would not disband our identities, so quick as they do. In a matter of 5- 6years or so, their language too imbibes the local terminology and they look near natives for all practical purposes. Even in places like Mumbai, persons functioning as the domestic help are drawn from nearly all parts of India, except perhaps from Delhi. Only if one intensely questions them for their nativity, the details may emerge. They offer a lesson or two to all of us. They practically are not educated, but do not shy or shun travelling to distant places for earning a livelihood. Look at our boys /girls with higher secondary education, in need of job; they do not deem it convenient to venture into Bombay or Delhi, fearing the language over there; but those unlettered women seek to work in places totally strange by language and tradition. Mental grit seems to progressively decline as one gets educated.
Real brave hearts are such men and women who blindly take a foothold in a distant land, live under a ‘roof’ not worth the name [along waste land next to pavements]cook some moderate food and move away to work at dawn. Such harsh realities of life help to harden their grit further. They deserve sympathy for ‘facing’ life. They don’t rush to end their life for not being able to procure a job in reasonable time [our boys jump from 4th floor [for low scores] crashing themselves and hopes pinned on them].
Though I admire several of their facets of promise, I cannot ignore the way they handle their employers. They report for work when convenient; if you insist on their time they would simply suggest you leave the key with neighbours and after the work I shall hand them over to them again. Till such time, we are convinced of their trustworthiness, leaving the key in the neighbourhood is anathema to our peace. Though we have nothing worth the name to be robbed off, what little we have could be sufficient a cause for our agony of losing them. At some point of time the key issue turns minor and we settle for a mutually convenient secret place from where to retrieve it. These hiccups are typical of metropolis where the inmates are employed and are to rush to different locales for work requiring to travel for an hour or more. So, the nagging servant maid’s service is inevitable nor dispensable.
This is not the lone grouse. They would chill your spine telling that for 20 days I would be away for my sister’s wedding in Karnataka or Kerala and that it is her turn to ‘contribute’ in cash and kind for the event. They would not even wait for your reply, leave alone your concurrence. Another tickle of sorts daily is the way the broom is left in a place to be an eyesore for any visitor. Those domestic helps in smaller towns are as recalcitrant as recalcitrance could be; yes, they would hang our linen for drying exactly on the cloth line meant for the inmates of another house. We would not be aware of the ‘freedom’ of our maid until the affected party tells us to remove the fabric; even if you permit their using our cloth line, they would start preaching morals saying ‘sir, use what is meant for you, we do not trespass into your facility‘ as if by design we try to avail of the other man’s facility.
With all these short comings, the servant maids of the present day are too conscious of ‘self esteem’. If you offer to part with the old dress of your children to them, they would simply turn down the suggestion saying’ my children do not use old fabric, please give it some orphanage’. Yet we get on with them, as we have no equal or better option.
Prof. K. Raman
Present day servant maids should not be called as servant maids but only by name. They too have formed association demanding bonus, coffee, tiffin etc. Also they demand Rs500/for cleaning the house , washing the utensils and cloths . It is the house owner’s responsibility to keep safe their valuables . In many places the maids come to know where the valuables are kept and in the absence of the owner , through somebody the valuables are robbed and the maids behave as if they do not know anything.
ReplyDeleteUsed dresses are not accepted by them and they insist on a new one or equivalent money .
In short their expectations are very high.
K.Venkataraman