Voice of the voiceless

Person no: - 1

Name: - Kamini Devi, maid servant who is a simple, hardworking, talkative, old and adorable Marathi
lady belonging to the underdog section of the society, staying in Aundh.

Time: - 5:30pm on 22nd March, 2011

Place: - At my home, after she had completed all her washing and cleaning work.

Scenario: - After cleaning all the utensils and washing the clothes, she came out drenched in water and
laid all the wet clothes on the wire. It was during this time, that I started my conversation with her.

(The entire conversation was in Hindi which I have converted into English)

Me – Aunty, are you coming tomorrow to our house for cleaning (I asked this because she does not
come frequently and gives excuses for taking leave).

Maid (she smiled) – No, I can’t come tomorrow. My younger son is ill and there is no one to take care of
him at home and I have to do all his work too. It becomes very hectic for me.

Me – So you won’t come tomorrow at all?

Maid – No son, please give me a leave just for tomorrow. I won’t ever give any excuses in future and
will come regularly from day after tomorrow.

I simply nodded my head and there was a minute of silence.

Maid – Can you please lend me Rs 500 for medical expenses for my son? It’s very urgent and I require
it immediately for the treatment of my son. You can deduct the same amount from this month’s salary.

Me – What has happened to your son?

Maid – Doctor says due to climate change and working under the scorching heat, he is suffering from
dehydration. Hence, they have put him on saline and give him regular drip.

I did not have liquid cash with me at that moment and hence was hesitating to give the poor lady at that
moment, but then I felt pity on her and asked her to wait for some time. Meanwhile, I went to my other
flatmates and asked them to contribute a few bucks. After collection, I went to give the money to the
maid.

Maid (on seeing the money, there was a twinkle in her eyes) – Thanks a lot son. May God bless you
and give you success throughout your life.

Me – It is okay aunty.

Maid (with a disappointed look) – You know son; the medical expenses are too much for us. I do not
even earn much such that I would be in a state to give my only son proper medical treatment. Here,
even our village doctor is charging a lot of money. People do not understand our plight, and demand
equal payment from us too.

Me – Aunty, are you the only bread earner of your family? What about your other family members?
Don’t they help you financially in such a situation?

Maid – My husband died couple of years back and I am a widow. I have two daughters, who are
already married and have their own livelihood.

She went on narrating the difficulties she had faced while getting her daughters married, their
respective husbands work in a better job and so the in-laws had demanded a lot of money for dowry. It
was very difficult for her during those times and even his young son had to toil hard as a labourer in the
construction site to earn money. Now, in such a situation, she cannot ask for money from her
daughters, as both of them are already married and belong to a different family now.

I felt very pity on her but could not do much for her except for helping her financially. She was in a very
sorry state and her plight was something inexplicable. She was almost in tears when she was
describing the difficulty with which she had arranged money for both her daughter’s marriage. And now,
she does not want to lose her only son, who is the only hope for her at this old age.

I told her not to come tomorrow and she can take a day off, but instead of her, if she could arrange a
substitute for her, then it would be better. I could really understand how difficult it was for her to go to
hospital and also return back and do household chores in a number of houses in our building. But, it
was equally important for us that our house remained cleaned with all the utensils washed, hence I had
asked a temporary substitute for her.

She gave a thought to this idea and said that she could ask her neighbourhood friend to come to our
place and also work, as she also comes to the same area where I stay. But her friend could have
problem with timing of coming and cleaning, as she also has a number of houses to work also. Our lady
was very happy with the idea and she said she would discuss it out with her friend and inform me
tomorrow itself.

To be honestly speaking, I became so happy to see the blink in her eyes and the smile on her face on
taking the money and considering the idea of leave for few days till her son gets well. The conversation
ended soon when she looked at the clock, and saw it was past five and then she hurried up to leave.
When I went to close the door, she was preparing to wear her slippers, and then suddenly she put her
hand on my head and smiled and blessed me and then left.

I stood there watching her go and feeling a level of satisfaction in helping the old lady. My day had a
good start with an unstructured and off-beat conversation with my maid which ended in helping the old
lady get back her ill son.
Person no: - 2

Name: - Jagat Moharana, worker who is a simple, hardworking, talkative, old and adorable Marathi
person belonging to the underdog section of the society, working as a shop floor worker at Force
Motors.

Time: - 2pm on 21st March, 2011

Place: - In the canteen of Force Motors, Nagpur.

Scenario: - While having our lunch in the canteen at the manufacturing unit of Force Motors. It was
during this time, that I started my conversation with him.

(The entire conversation was in Hindi which I have converted into English)

Hello uncle, how are you? Where are you from? Then he looked at me and told that he actually belongs
from Kolhapur. I asked about his family members and what they do? Very frankly, he stated that his
wife is a house wife and takes care of their 3 children. He has 1 daughter and 2 sons. Daughter is the
eldest who is pursuing graduation from Rai Soni College, Nagpur. And his one of his son is standard 9 th
and one is in standard 5th.

He was very talkative and I think no one ever asked him about his family which he likes to discuss.
Then he continued by saying that he is working very hard to give their children a good education. It’s
been difficult for him in the initial days of work where he had to toil hard in order to earn a living for him
and his family. In the initial days of his joining as a shop floor worker, he was earning something around
Rs.3000 which was not enough for him to fend his family and also worry about his children education.
So his wife also worked in the neighbourhood doing household chores and earned bare minimum,
which when combined, was enough for the family.

I was baffled by the struggle faced by this man. I realised that, not everyone is born with a golden
spoon. Some unfortunate people have the misfortune of labouring hard to earn a penny and still do not
earn enough for them and have to struggle harder. Same was his story.

He even talked about the working conditions at Force Motors. He described the different people he met
during his working period and the different types of experiences faced by them when he was working
under different supervisors. He even gladly spoke about some of his supervisors who were kind enough
and gave leniency on time and work; some were very harsh and strict with rules and regulations and
wanted all work to be completed on time and with perfection and efficiency. Out of his many
supervisors, he spoke about one of his supervisors, whom he respected a lot and praised his qualities
and character. He was his favourite supervisor who had gifted our man a bicycle and which he uses till
date for coming from his home to the work place.

During our entire lunch time, I had a gala time listening to this man’s funny experiences at the shop
floor which gave me some idea about the people with whom I will be working in my forthcoming new
job. After the lunch, both of us walked back to the shop floor, he went off to resume his work and left
me pondering about the entire conversation.