The Maid of the House controlling the broom

The Broom Maid

The trigger of this story is from my recently written post on The Work-Life Balance on my blog.One of the under-stated factors which helps in keeping a good Work-Life balance is the maid of the house especially in the case of Working Women.

The Daily Scenario

Imagine a scenario! You and your wife both are working. Your wife gets up early as she has to pack the tiffin of your son whose school bus comes at 6.45 am. She has to not only pack the tiffin but also get the son ready. Give him a bath, dress him up properly in school uniform, pack the school bag and then finish it off with the tiffin box. The moment she enters the kitchen, she realises that the maid has still not come and the unclean utensils of last night dinner are still lying in the sink. As she is not able to cook something fresh, she packs bread, butter, and jam for the son.

You drop your son at the bus stand and come back to see your wife calling the maid desperately on her mobile. As she sees you, she drops the bombshell – the maid has fallen sick and will be out of action for 4-5 days. You realise that for the next 4-5 days even your days of freedom are also over.

The Importance of Maid of the house

Nobody doubts woman power in India, especially in an average Indian family. No, I am not talking about the lady of the house but the maid of the house. It’s only a maid in front of whom even the most powerful lady feels weak. The day a maid announces that she is going on leave for a week as she has to attend a marriage in her village, the whole house functioning goes for a toss. Your wife starts working on “Plan B” though she herself has doubts on it as no maid will take a temporary assignment. Washing utensils, washing clothes, cleaning the floors, dusting the house all these worthless jobs suddenly seems to become the most challenging ones.

The Law of Force Vectors

Every morning, the moment the maid enters your house she gets a set of instructions from the lady/ladies of the house. As the maid is under an oath from the Association of Indian maids, she just follows the instructions for a day. The next day she needs a fresh one. My house is ruled by two Forces – Mother and Wife. Therefore, there are several forces acting as a vector on the maid. To quote from Principles of Physics – Force Vectors can be added (good mood of the ladies) or subtracted (bad mood of the ladies) to discover the resultant force action on an object to change its State of Uniform Motion (When the maid wants to work but you over-instruct thereby discouraging her) or its state of rest (When the maid decides it’s too much and takes leave).

The 1st set of instructions for the maid of the house

My mother is the first one to notice the entry of the maid in the house. The moment she enters the house her first question is why are you late? Also, she will question her on why she placed the utensils in the kitchen shelves without drying them. But the maid is least bothered as before answering my mother’s questions, she has to answer the natures call. Please don’t get me wrong! Natures call these days stands for a call on your mobile which you need to attend immediately leaving all other jobs behind.

The 2nd set of instructions for the maid

The moment my maid is through with her first set of questioning, my wife comes into the picture for the second round. This time the questions are tougher as Why she didn’t clean the shelf properly in spite of being told? or Why she didn’t wash the kitchen floor in spite of being instructed? By this time the maid has lost her cool! The replies from her become slightly sarcastic saying that the memsaab in the neighborhood never questions like the ladies in our house. The maid is smart as she knows that the only way to get out of this vortex of instructions is to throw in some competition.

Boosting morale of the maid of the house

I often narrate my experience of the corporate world to my wife. I tell her that if my day in office begins with so many instructions from my Boss, it lowers my morale for the entire day. But if the day starts with words of encouragement, it improves my efficiency. But the auto-reply from my wife is that maids are a totally different breed so I should just leave it to her without interfering.

The Internet of Things

Maids can be compared to the Internet of Things – IoT. Everybody has heard of IoT which means a network of self- computing devices operating through the internet which can send and receive data. E.g. You can start the AC in your room when you are some 5 km away by the click of a button on your mobile. The Internet of things will make human life more comfortable as it helps you in doing your household chores.

Maids are also like IoT. They help you in your household chores and are networked with a whole lot of other maids in the neighborhood. These maids can exchange data very easily. There are times when data of your house like “When your daughter arrived from her Sasural” or “When your son’s fiancee visited your home” is transmitted like a Wi-Fi to the next block. You only realise this next morning when Gupta Aunty from the next door block checks about your daughter’s welfare and when did she arrive?

The Maid working at your home is also a Content Creator

Apart from the physical jobs, the maid is also responsible for content creation.  She is the one who creates her own content with a lot of spices and feeds it to the network. This network further amplifies the message and by the time it comes back to you, you start wondering who created this fake news? It’s like the forwarded messages on Whats App.

The Maid of the house is a tough negotiator

Also, they are the best negotiators of salary as mostly their recruiters tend to give up to their demands. It’s difficult to monitor their attendance and they come out with the best excuses for taking leaves. They make you realise that the maid is an antonym of the word dependability. It’s the only job where the employer has to pay a bonus on every happy occasion in the family. But as your lungs need fresh air for your body function similarly your house needs a maid to so that it doesn’t stop at a junction.

Classification

Based on their skills, maids can be broadly classified into 4 different categories:

1. Bartan wali bai – a maid who cleans utensils.
2. Jhadu-pocha wali bai – a maid who sweeps the house.
3. Kapde dhone wali bai – a maid who washes your clothes
4. Khaana bananay wali bai – a maid who cooks food

One Last Tip

The tip which we used to pay earlier like an old Saree or used woolens, no more appeals to them. What appeals is hard cash?

If you enjoyed reading this then you can enjoy more. Click on the link below:

Salary and Expenses:Two sides of the same coin

The last week of the Month – the days of Bankruptcy