Recently a colleague asked when I found
time to write. I mentally smirked realising that she hadn’t checked the date on
my post. It was eons ago. Nevertheless she had enjoyed the post and re-reading
it, I realised that I had enjoyed writing it. Does this mean that I am back to
blogging regularly? Not sure about that.
I have moved on. No, not away from Ire but
into a new house that affords me more storage space! Yes, it is exactly four
minutes and 26 seconds away from where I lived previously. I have no remorse
leaving behind the old. This is my new mantra of sorts, making peace with what I
have and not should have been and should have had.
Anyways back to why I am writing here. Two things
happened in the recent past and got me thinking (believe you have no idea how
many things I just brush away! :P).
First, my previous maid suddenly
disappeared one day. She never turned up for work two days in a row. A very
happy husband exclaimed, “jaan chhooti” but hey who was going to do the dishes?
This made him ask the landlords who informed a little too late that she had
fought with her husband. That’s it? That terrible woman had left me in a lurch!
What with office work, cooking and now cleaning the house too? I would have to
do it all. This was my reaction.
Three days later she turns up and entered smiling
shyly. I mentally thanked my lucky stars and questioned her where she had been.
She first said she wasn’t well. To this, losing my patience, I said that a
silly fight with the husband is no reason to bunk work. No reaction from so I let
it go. However, in a minute she spilled the entire story.
Her husband was a drunk and a wife beater. They
had fought over some petty issues and he had hit her. The beating got out of
hand so her brother had to intervene. They registered a police complaint as
well. This caused her husband to throw her out and their five children. It took
her two days to recover and move into a smaller house closer to her brother’s
place. The husband hadn’t called or apologised.
I was a little embarrassed with my earlier behaviour
and offered her tea. Two days later she announced that she was moving back. My loud
‘why’ interrupted her smile so lowering her gaze she replied, “My elder
daughter is very attached to her father. She went back the next day. How do I
leave her alone with him? The world is not good enough for a young girl to live
alone with a man. Plus, he is a drunk and a man who drinks doesn’t see any
difference between a woman and a daughter when he is intoxicated.”
I don’t think I reacted for a few seconds. My
maid did not trust her husband; her children’s father with their daughter. The very
idea her thoughts painted had me dizzy and made me want to throw. She and I did
not discuss this again.
My new landlady was kind enough to make
sure we had a maid before we settled in. This is how I met Jasmine. When I was
expecting a lady to walk in, I was surprised to open the door to a little girl.
With a nervous smile she came in early in the morning and went on how she
wanted badly to work for us. However, hubby and I had our suspicions – we did
not want to hire an underage girl.
Day 2 – when I asked Jasmine how old she
was, she quickly replied she wouldn’t know. Rubbishing her answer I asked how
could that be possible and she was like I came here when I was very little. Only
my mom who is in the village can really tell you how old I am. We dropped it
for the day.
Day 3 – we had to settle how much we would
pay her so I asked if her didi would drop by so that we could discuss. Again,
she was quick to reply that her did was busy and I could pay her whatever I deemed
fit.
It has been a week. My questions have stopped.
School, education, food, her village etc. she always gave me random answers
which won’t add up. So we have dropped it altogether. Don’t know if it is right
on my part to let her continue. If I ask her to leave, landlady might throw her
out as well.
What would you do in a situation like this?
