Maid Of Honour.

     The first thought that would seep into ones mind is the bridal maid of honour..the ones who help the bride through her nerve racking moments. In short, the girls in pretty dresses and bouquets in their hands.
     However, here, the one i am addressing, is the maid who works at our homes. The woman who works day in and day out in various houses to make it homely. Who cleans up behind us, when we run behind our importantly-unimportant chores. She leaves behind the money in our pockets, for us to get surprised when we dig in...
     She is probably the only one to get the least respect for her physically tiring and truly humiliating work, she does, so that her children can see the bright sun, raising her head high, to the respect they earn. Though this is in retrospection to the current scenario, which is rather awkward. They are paid much better these days and loved..especially by moms. They have their '21 paid holidays' plus he extras without notice. They have their "maidam gaon me maa bemar hai" [ma'am, my mother is unwell in the village]and "maidam, behen ka shadi hai" [ma'am my sister is getting married] vacations!
     When I see my mother cleaning up behind what the maid has cleaned, I find it vaguely funny!
My mom cleans up, to make the maids work easier, however, tHe maid herself is coming in, to make my mothers work easy![now typing that correctly, was quite a task!]
    How in anticipation of the nicely swept floor and the tidily kept clothes, maa waits for the maid to come. And mind you, its a VIP treatment sans body guards, that she receives with an offer of tea and biscuits and on some days, when she's fasting, fruits and coconut water are on their way!
Although, when I ask for some help here and there, be it, for a glass of water or keeping my phone for charging, maa yells, "everyone in this house thinks I am a maid! How's it going to work? you girls have to get married in a few years and take care of your own household! you ought to learn all this soon.. I wonder if you'll have maIds a decade or two from now.." and there, its not period, its an interruption by my sister and me.. because then, the panic begins, of how will things be in the future?
will the next generation experience maids?
Will the American culture of 'pick-n-drop your maid' come to India too?


Today, our maid returned after a long week. Trust me, we sister's were assigned the duty of dusting the house spic and span.. though we didn't do it! ;)
the door bell rang, and the short lady with her Saree tucked in awkwardly, entered.... to bring back the bliss and the retirement of the washing machine!
Will this phase pass??
Will the so called luxury become a respectful duty?
Will doing our own work become easier..?
Will our dependence on somebody else deduce in the near future?
DON'T KNOW!!
 

In memory of the week we spent struggling to do our chores... hope you never visit us again!