Great Search and Greater Resolve

When we  landed in the city of Chennai from Calcutta there were many surprises and the first in this series was the house hunting which I have shared with you in a blog and next one was concerning the servants. The ten long years' stay at Calcutta was a golden age in this regard. Though the place was the mother of all sorts of trade unions this sector of domestic servants was untouched  I think for ages the servitude of this class was visible  to the naked eyes! I would like to give a small example. If the servant was sweeping around the compound and if the land lord who lived upstairs used to pass through she had to drop the broom to the side and holding her sari close to her body with both her hands she had to bow her head till he was safe inside to the stairs!

 Even though I never expected this servility Chennai maids, it was utterly different from their counterparts  at Calcutta. They were very different....... more democratic to assert their rights and in comparison. the role were reversed. Instead of I specifying the duties it was they who were  specific of their duties  and the timings and stressed my duties towards them.

"I should have my morning hot  tea before I can start any work amma..... No left over things for me please... You can provide me the breakfast later.....I will bring my vessel for fresh lunch.  I will mop the house on Tuesdays and Fridays....... and   I will not do the washing..... blah..... blah ..blah" I was stunned. At Calcutta all the house work including washing was taken for granted and our house used to be mopped twice daily which was the norm. 

In this conditioned and democratic ambience I tried many a specimen.

A new one sort of satisfied our needs. If ever I tell her to do a work there never was a negative reply and it was just a nod. She was more like a western cow boy we see in the old time movies who has his revolver in his holster!  She had a similar gadget like the hip sling where she carried  a small treasure trove of a bag attached to her waist  filled with betel leaves betel nut tobacco ammunitions. Sitting on the floor she would diligently prepare with her little mortar and pestle before she started the work. Once this was done she would fill her mouth with the mixture and would be full of zip like our cow boy till she sat for the next session of ammunition filling!  Our whole house gained a permanent aroma of tobacco and we decided that this atmosphere was indeed a health hazard to the family.

Another specimen was tried out and she was not satisfied with my food. "It is lifeless " she complained and left.

And with another I acted like the Bishop Myriel in the great novel 'Les' Miserable' ignoring the small disappearances in the kitchen but when the silver rosary gifted by my mother in law did the vanishing act  my benevolence took a departure and that was the end of another story! 

And it turned out to be a continuous litany of woes with dirty uniforms, dusty shelves, unclean vessels  what with  late comings and absenteeism and the  attrition rate was unbelievably higher than a sophisticated IT organisation!

"Why is this happening to me who had a comfortable time with a single servant in a land of foreign language?" I wondered!

And one particular day I spelt out my melancholic tale s to my sister in law, who was then the mother superior and she consoled me that she would pray to our Lady to find a solution to my problem. And true her powerful prayer and focused intention she indeed came out with a solution.

"There is an young girl in a family known to me....." she said " Her father is a cancer patient with one of his leg amputated and the mother is an agricultural labourer. Her elder brother is doing some technical course and the younger one is in the elementary school. The parents are looking for a good house where she can work and have  three square meals and earn something which can be saved for her marriage. What do you think about it?" she enquired

Having a house bound servant was indeed a new model for me. How do I accommodate her and what sort of influence she would be on my two children? My mind out rightly refused this paradigm shift.

"Give it a try..." my hubby said " Worse come worse we can send her back."

With reluctance we decided to go ahead

So for the first time we had a house bound servant!

"Child labour" my conscience pricked me

"But you are helping the girl and the family" the other side of mine tried to convince me.

This new recruit landed in our house as a little girl probably 10 or 11, even though she smiled at me I could feel that she was frightened. I patted her and asked her to eat the lunch.

As soon as she finished her food she collected all the plates and the vessels cleansed them and the kitchen too!

The girl got up before me for her bath, collected the milk and got things ready for breakfast. The kitchen was spic and span with all the vessels washed the night before and mopped thoroughly. With her pleasant face she endeared herself to our foursome house hold!

She loved to cook and learnt the tricks of the trade fast.

"Shall we prepare some snacks this evening akka?"

This smiley request was a bonus  which I couldn't refuse. For the children coming back from school the pleasant  anticipation of a good evening spread instead of the boring biscuits had become a habit now! We celebrated Tamil New year's day  with a sumptuous banana leaf feast with kolams drawn in the village style. Deepavali and Christmas were celebrated with equal fervour!

With this kind of  non-monitoring and non-supervising happy addition to the family, it had created plenty of leisure time for me.

Then I took the decision to teach this wonderful girl. She knew the Tamil alphabets.  We progressed through various stages of reading and writings and being a quick and enthusiastic learner. Over a year she improved so much that I contemplated on sending her for her 10th standard government exam privately.

One more thing I found special in her was that she was fond of reading Tamil poems and Bharathiyar was her favourite.  Both of us enjoyed  singing along the women liberation songs by that great man!

The proverb "Good things don't last forever" proved true in our case. One fine day her parents landed up in Chennai.

"Amma...... "he said "we want our girl to get married......."

"But she is too young to get married....."

"Amma ......the  government has announced scheme for the poor girls who are getting married....."

 I was angry

"But I am having a plan to make her do the 10th standard so that she could get a job..... even a government one...... and mind you she is not yet 18, the marriageable age even according your calculation.."

"But amma where do I go for an educated bridegroom for my girl...?  A person who has done his 10th standard and unemployed  demands a big motorcycle and a gold chain..... The VAO of my village will definitely help me regarding her birth certificate......"

I looked at her mother's face. It was expressionless.

Our girl was crying copiously. All my arguments to defend her stay proved futile in the face of his helplessness and poverty.

Then there was  no contact except the wedding invitation. Our gift went in the form of money order. One or two letters I had written went unanswered.

Then the miracle happened. After many years we were attending a function at Madurai and there I met my girl. She looked sad.

I hugged her and enquired about the general wellbeing.

"Everything fine akka....." But the enthusiasm was missing 

A son and a daughter was the fulfilling  events in her otherwise listless life.

Just to keep the conversation going I asked her the name of her daughter.

"Sakthi Bharathi, akka....."  The way she announced the name took me by surprise with her determination reflected in each syllable of that name.

"Come what may I am there to create a hybrid class of  my girl child with the  best of  education which I missed in my life and I would  make sure that none can interfere in this my decision." is what I gathered from my assistant's tone and the memory of the afternoons came flooding back when we used to sing together our dear Bharathiar's poems liberating women from the traditional house bound variety!
At that very moment I reminisced my mother who in spite of having 6 daughters in the family of 10children resolved to educate all of them living in a society where elementary education was the highest qualification for any female child. That she didn't bother about the sarcastic comments and  the accompanying mockery made her a heroine amongst the family at a later date when they followed her foot steps !!