Hi All,
Good points and bad points about maids!
Being a working mother, my mother always managed to have maids to take care of us. Till I went to UAE after marriage, I never did daily house work(mopping,sweeping, washing vessels, washing clothes) until it was an emergency! and it was rare that condition occurred. Only thing I used to do was cooking. Those days, the maids were very sincere and hard working than now a days. But then also I had problem with one of our maid. She used to black mail me!!! If I wish to miss my tuitions she used to make me sweep the house threatening me that she will tell my mom that I missed the tuitions that day!!!!
There were different types of maids who used to do different work. The maid who did only mopping and sweeping, the maid who did only cooking, the maid who only took care of us, the maid who used to come to clean toilets(that time, we used to have common toilets for 2 to 3 families!!!) There was a maid who used to come during summer to make paapads and red chilly powder!!! There was a maid who used to come to make Jowar rottis.
And during festivals, mom used to give everyone extra money as a tip(khushi).
But there were good maids also, who really took care of me and my brother. There was one Muslim family, which had more than 14 children in their house. Mother and elder daughters used to do other house hold works and baby sitting. They were also very good.
Then we had a Brahmin lady, we used to call her maami. She and her husband were so loving and caring.
We had one old lady called Basamma. She was my mom's pet. She also was with us for many many years. She was more attached to my brother. She used to carry him always. She used to take us to her house. In their house, they used to prepare food in earthen pots, and the food used to be so tasty.
One more old lady was there, whose son has 9 children. Till today, those girls come to our house for special occasions. They only took care of mom, when she was alone before I joined her now. But mom helped them to get good education. All the girls finished their graduation. One girl did MA and now thinking of doing CA!!
Till I was in UAE for these 11 years, I never hired any servant other than only one month! That was when I was carrying my second baby and I had lot of vomiting and tiredness.
After coming back to India, I realized how the people over here are so much addicted to the maids.
The need of maids is so bad, even they know that we can not survive without them! The growing number of working wives, working mothers(hey I am not against them!) the need of maids is growing everyday! If one day the maid will not show her face, the whole day will be spoiled. That too without informing us they miss the work.
Our maid who is working now, has 12 children. 11 girls and one boy!! Two girls come to do the work. One does cleaning and other does washing vessels. Having many people at home also, they take chutti at least 4 days in a month. If I ask the reason, they will tell that they were not in a mood to come!! or a simple lie which I know it is a lie but helpless. I tell mom that we will manage without them. But mom is used to maids all these years so much!! She can not live without them. And here it is a prestige issue! do you believe??
Yes! if you do not have maids! people will see you like you are an alien!!!
Now again coming to our maid!, Two months back, we thought of changing the maid. Mom asked few people near our area. One lady came one day and told that she will start working from next week. But that next week never came, she never showed her face! Again we searched for another lady, even she did not turn up!! Then one more lady came but when she came to know that our current maid works here, she ran from our home!!! Can you guess why??? Our maid has her mafia gang, She won't allow any other person to work in my house as she thinks she owns our house!!!! She gives them dhamki!!! or threatens them that they dare entering our house!!! So we are stuck with her gang. But now a days we make it sure to cut her salary of those days when she wont come!!! For that also she had a fight with us.
My brother in Pune stays in apartment. There also this Mafia rules apply. Each apartment or society has a group of maids. They won't allow others to enter that building. What ever problem is there you have to adjust with that group only.
But one good thing in Pune is you get good and sincere maids. You can really trust them and handover your house keys to finish their work while you are in the office.
I hope this is enough about our maids!!
Keep smiling,
