Tags:
Journalism of Courage
All is not quiet in the domestic front. A section of the indispensables turning irresponsible and unlawful has raised many eyebrows. Newspaper reports in the recent past like “Thefts by maid exposes a racket”, “Servant colludes with criminals to kidnap master’s minor son from school”, “Cook kills and robs his master by lacing food with poison”, are all alarming events. Even the police’s hectic verification drives have yielded little result.
Alternatively, full-time domestic helps hired from established convents by army officers, doctors, engineers, bureaucrats, etc, even if driven home after signing their contracts, have hardly remained problem-free. After the job specifics are explained to them, it is their turn to question the employers. “What time do you people wake up, what time do you sleep, what is your dinner time, are you vegetarian or non-vegetarian?” What quite a few recruiters seem to resent, in particular, is the one-and-a-half hour afternoon break, as stipulated by the convent and unfailingly observed. The employers may complain, but they can do precious little about it, lest the hard-to-hire help quits!
They would serve a family for long years, just as their own family members. I remember parents would leave kids in their care with nary a worry. They brought canisters of water from public hydrants daily to fill big barrels for domestic use. Physically hardy, they would carry tiffins to offices and schools, covering more than 10 km at a time. In turn they would become part of the family’s daily routine, included in all its celebrations and confabulations.
Offering them permanent jobs in army or civil departments, even when retaining them as domestic helps, was a common practice. They never failed to return to their work after consuming their annual harvesting leave.
The “paharis” of my Shimla childhood and the cherished memory belong to a past, certainly never to return. And that, in a society that aims to be egalitarian, is no bad thing.
