Maids of honour

August 2016

(Source: Google)

Growing up, like so many other millennials, I did not fully comprehend the patience, time and effort in managing a household - two kids who surprisingly turned out fine (even though I say it ;) and a husband (who I guess will always be the oldest kid on the block requiring adult supervision :P). Mom was a wonderful orchestrating magician; and obviously when things function smoothly, it does seem like a wonderland production - delicious steaming delicacies that make an appearance even before hunger pangs appear, used plates and crockery that magically travel to the wash basin:P, a closet brimming with freshly laundered clothes & Dad being the genie who used to get the groceries and household supplies ;). And a maid who had been with us for more than a decade completed the setting. Even in this background, I must say that there were clear ground rules - simple ones that unfortunately seem non-existent nowadays - for instance, just because the maid helps with the housework, it doesn't mean she will fetch water or plates to wherever we were seated - totally unacceptable! I guess observing our parents is one of the fundamental ways of how we learn to behave. And in that respect, I must say Challa men are pragmatic and always pitch in to help with the household chores (with the guidance of written instructions of course;). An incident that my Dad remembers from his childhood - everyone was supposed to pick up his/her own plate after a meal; this might not seem a big deal now, but 50 years ago setting an example that each person should do their own work and not burden the women in the house or maids, is exemplary (I will expand on this interesting theme of 'learning from parents' in a separate article).

When people have been associated with us for such a long time, they do tend to influence our actions. And they are glued in and become part of our lives - not in a gossipy negative sense but a concerned positive way. When I was all set to move into the new house after marriage, I recall that our maid wanted to come and visit our house "to see if it was good enough for me":). During my childhood, we employed Sattayya, a retired army driver. Owing either to his army background or his own beliefs, he started opening and closing the car door for us everytime we travelled - I cannot even begin to tell you how weird it was! My parents immediately told him to stop doing that as it was unnecessary; and I still think he stopped doing it not because he felt it was right, but more so because his boss told him so. He was a good man, very disciplined and punctual; and extremely proud of my academic achievements. When I was pursuing CA, I believed in the self-study model, but there were some mandatory classes that I had to attend for six months from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning - and for a person allergic to mornings, that was a big deal :P. To be brutally honest, if left to myself I would never have gone to these classes. But Sattayya was so enthusiastic, he was willing to come at 5 a.m. in the morning so that I could attend these classes at 6 a.m. Between the three of them - Dad making coffee, Mom making breakfast and Sattayya chauffeuring me - I did manage to get to the classes on time. I later came to know that Sattayya had tried to make his children realise the value of education, but had not been too successful; and hence took personal pride in my academic achievements - which is really sweet. I know that I value his dedication to work much more now than I did before, but I do regret that he passed away before I attained CA qualification - I'm sure he would've been super proud :). 

In this scenario, I somewhere became like my Grandma who believed 'You don't find people like these nowadays". So I became this self sufficient independent individual who believed that I could single-handedly manage all household chores, and I did manage too when I lived alone. Then I married an 'Ariel guy', yup he takes care of laundry (the only pre-requisite being that the clothes are sorted and color coded ;). We did manage without a maid for quite sometime, but our work pressures and travel schedules being hectic and erratic; combined with the fact that we started properly cleaning the house only when someone would be visiting us, we decided it was high time we hired a maid !!

(Source: Google)

Everyone from both sets of parents to neighbors sighed with relief and were visibly happy. One of our neighbours remarked "The day our maid doesn't come, my husband and I have a fight. You are doing the right thing". Its always good to know we are the source of someone's happiness: P. I didn't have any list detailing the ideal qualifications of a maid, but I started wondering how much fun life would be if I had a lady's maid along the lines of endearing Jeeves - a combination of guardian angel, all purpose problem solver, and devising subtle plans to escape life's mundanities. I became nostalgic reminiscing how just picking up Wodehouse's books to read would make me smile, and how loudly I used to laugh while reading his books. God help anyone who interrupted me on this journey of Wodesian humor!

(Source: Google)

I was brought down from Cloud 9 ☁ to ground zero with the arrival of the new maid. As you are aware, I have been called 'house-proud'; and to aid my 'eternal pursuit of cleanliness', I had purchased state-of-the-art cleaning gadgets; one of them being an automatic mop wringer, which I was quite proud of. While I was showing her how to use the mop, the maid appalled me by asking "Pocha hai? (Do you have a cloth?)". I was scandalized that she should prefer a rag to this house savvy equipment. To be honest, I had never seen a maid using anything but a mop, and had only heard people talking about it like funny anecdotes of a bygone era! Determined like a politician who wanted to get the bill passed in Parliament at any cost, I advocated the advantages of using the mop - no back pain, less time consuming, energy efficient blah blah; however nothing I said could dissuade her. I resigned to my fate and gave her the rag, and she continued her quest for cleanliness by rolling over the floor, and extolling the virtues of a pocha-mopped floor. I smiled feebly and packed the equipment, and similar to a soul attaining enlightenment under the Boddhi tree, understood the meaning of true wisdom:

(Source: Google)

I was suddenly reminded of kindergarten kids fighting to protect their turf; and that episode 'Call me Mom' in 'Everybody loves Raymond' (S06 E21) where mothers of the lead couple become annoyed when their son and daughter start calling their respective mothers-in-law 'Mom' - possessive about turf again! In contrast I remembered how hassle-free my recent job transition was - the recruitment and job handover process went on so smoothly. The difference was there I did not dictate how the work was to be done - I explained how I used to handle stuff, and worked together on KRAs and target goals. While all these thoughts were chugging along in parallel in my train of thought, the maid continued chattering and when she proudly showed me how much cleaner the house was, I smiled and nodded in acquiescence (remember, bound by honour to clean our home the right way!). And its time for me to say ta da as I have to prepare lunch, but first, I have to re-assemble all cooking vessels - the maid has a strategic system of sorting, whereby the rice cooker plate goes with the plates and the rice cooker vessel with all other vessels and pots - now I know what kind of cooking utensils to purchase next time around -- NDPAC (duh uh, Non Dismantlable Pre Assembled Cookware). Wow, that is so cool right, I am patenting it right away!