THE SERVANT MAID

The servant maid is a familiar figure in our day to day life. Unfortunately, there is no
dress code to distinguish a servant maid with any other lady in the street as now a day’s all
ladies are maintaining decent life with good food and better clothing. If I have to search for a
servant maid during my morning walk along with my wife I enquire a lady who according to our
understanding must be a servant maid, enquire her “Madam do you know any servant maid to
work in our house as our servant maid has left without informing us. Will you please help?” If
the other lady is a house wife on a routine morning walk may help us looking at our (both
myself and my wife) age may say “Don’t worry, I will ask my servant maid to work in your house
as she is in dire need of some more houses as she is financially crumbled”, so it is a happy
coincidence to put a stop our search for a servant maid. If we are fortunate she may work for
four to five months without any hitch. The moment the house lady points out about the poor
quality of washing clothes or stains in the cooking utensils etc. She may either reply bluntly or
leave the house without notice.

There are certain do’s and don’ts while dealing with a maid.

Do’s

1. Give her tea and tiffin along with you when she is doing work during your breakfast
time.
2. The house lady should talk to her politely and not harshly as the days are not same as
they were some 20 years ago. There are so many do’s i.e. you should treat her as a
family member and not otherwise and so on. The above points are only illustrative but
not exhaustive.

Don’ts

1. Never tell your servant maid to come early or don’t take a leave on a particular day as
you were expecting some relatives. You may feel that she will reduce your burden. Take
it from me that she will definitely abstain on that exact day because she knows that
there will be double work.
2. Don’t give any leftover food or tea/coffee etc. if your maid is not interested to carry
openly in a polythene bag. If you want to give, then do it properly by putting the food
items neatly packed in your own tiffin carrier.
3. Don’t serve tea/tiffin in separate dishes and cups earmarked for them. They will be hurt
if you ill treat in that way. The list can be extended but the above examples are enough
to strengthen my point.
I remember when we were in sector 10 in ‘Z’ type quarter. It was a Friday and a grand
‘VARALAXMI’ pooja was planned. My Mrs. Invited some friends and relatives to grace
the function. Some were invited for lunch and dinner also. Suddenly, my elder brother
who was working in Kharagpur in railway workshop (Stores Deptt.) came to our house
after finishing his work at Raipur Stores Deptt. He told my wife that the real “Varalaxmi
Vratam” will only completed with the arrival of servant maid otherwise during the pooja
arrangements, the whole concentration will be on the servant maid and not on pooja.
Believe me on that exact day the servant maid took a leave without intimation. Even a
BSP employee may resort to taking leave without intimation to his boss in advance and
may submit leave application the next day. Is it not so? Similar is the case when you plan
to go on leave and you inform the servant maid to come early as the train time is such
and such, be sure that the maid will be absent without intimation.

When I observe the house in the morning my daughter in law may be waiting for
the arrival of the servant maid for the morning works. Certain works are to be
completed before 7 A.M. when the water taps cry for help to shut their mouth by
unloading the potable drinking water when I see my Mrs. While collecting the flowers
from the trees for her morning prayers she will also be keeping eye on the gate of the
house to check and make sure whether the maid arrived in time or not.

When I go to a Bank in the first hours on any working day, the Bank Manager
sitting in his glass chamber will be constant by looking at the chairs whether all of his
staff have occupied their seats otherwise, he has to take up one counter work himself if
there are more than two absentees.

The above situations are not happening in any one house or the other. The same
is the case with people in Vizag or Vizianagaram also. Whenever any lady from my
relatives rings us up for enquiring our welfare etc. the topic of servant maid will surely
roll in the conversation. Even one of my relative told my wife over phone, “My dear
……..You are lucky. At least you are having a maid but look at me I am giving whatever
my maid wanted in terms of wages etc. but when I was bed ridden for 10 days during
that time only my maid took leave. You may imagine my plight. ”

Having a servant maid is a matter of prestige. If you don’t have any then you are
branded as a troublesome people where nobody prefers to work. There is a ring
formation among the unorganized sector of domestic service class where if a house is
left by a maid nobody will come forward unless Rs 50/- or Rs 100/- is increased from
that monthly charges. The hike is always on the upward trend between every quarter or
half year where as annual increment is given only once in an year for the regular service
class.
 My family has undergone the bitter experiences with the above problem. When
we go to our relatives houses in another state on a holiday it is a strange co-incidence
that during our stay in their house we had to feel delicate to stay for two or more days
because of lack of domestic help in their house. We had to cut short our duration of
visit.

Nobody should consider that the above topic is only limited to ladies. It is a day
to day problem for the entire house where everybody is directly or indirectly affected.
Imagine if the lady of the house is sick and no servant maid, then what? The daily
routine is stuck up and everybody on their toes to get their works completed.

One of my friends was working as AGM in a shop. I was in Room No. 1 in the
main hospital to get my B.P. checkup. It was just 10 minutes before the tea time (in the
morning). The doctor asked the attendant to allow me inside the room and close the
door (to be opened after tea time). There was already a lady patient i.e. my friend’s
wife. That doctor was very particular that one more person be present when he was
examining the female patient. The checking was over and the medicines were
prescribed. Before allowing her to go, the doctor advised her like this. “Madam are you
having a servant maid?” She said “Yes”. Then he told her, “You better bid a goodbye to
your servant maid and from tomorrow you all the works yourself specially cleaning the
floor etc.” The lady asked him in what way it will help her. He told her this is the real
problem with her health. ”Your cholesterol, weight etc. have got to be reduced by not
skipping the breakfast etc. but by doing manual work”. The lady was very upset with his
advise (especially when it was in my presence). She changed the doctor from the
following month. The doctor has not lost anything. Her level of sugar increased due to
lack of exercise, she was status conscious. After all “Health is wealth”. She suffered a lot
afterwards.

So, self help is the best help and do your work yourself. If every member of the
house pick up some small works, then it will be much easier and good for ones health
also.

Date: 21/06/15

Feedback Email:- rrkrao15@yahoo.com R. Ramakrishna Rao

 Certificate

This is to certify the above article has been written by me and not sent to any other paper for
publication.

R. Ramakrishna Rao

To,

The Editor,

The Hitawada,

Raipur.

Sir,

I am attaching here with an article titled “The Servant Maid”, for favor of publication in

the Hitawada. I will be thankful if it is published at your earliest convenience.

Thanking You

Yours Sincerely

R. Ramakrishna Rao

Block 39-A, Ruabandha Sector,

Bhilai, 490006.

Feedback Email:-

rrkrao15@yahoo.com