Domestic Mismanagement

BAAI - thats the marathi for maid servant (pronounced as BYE).
PORI - thats the marathi for a little girl maid servant.
BEN - thats the gujrati for a lady who cooks lunch/dinner and snacks (pronounced as bane).

So many baais, yet nothing! So many poris, yet nothing! So many bens yet nothing! Yes, my home is the perfect example of domestic mismanagement.

It's about 8.00 AM in the morning. All ladies of the family are in kitchen. They are there inspite of the maid and the cook doing their jobs. Mom is getting in and out of the kitchen making sure everything is going according to plan, making sure that nobody (as in the servants) is mad at her today. On her way in and out, she's passing a comment that's sure to piss either the cook or the maid and also giving some instruction to either one of them. They surely don't like it.

I ask my mom - why do you ladies have to be in the kitchen all the time inspite of us having so much domestic help? The answer is usual - You don't know. These servants, they are too mean. They'll never do one bit extra than what they are supposed to do. Then she'll go on a complete humanitarian track saying that she does all she can to take care of them. But they do not reciprocate.

Things are only worse when I am home on a Saturday. My home is a comedy of errors. All the women are doing so much unnecessary work that the maids could have done for a little extra money and a little more management.

Usually in an Indian (especially Gujrati) household, the servant is supposed to hand wash the clothes. However, at my place, the washing machine is used. Things are so bad that the servant won't even help loading the washing machine.

You might wonder - who's the boss and who's the servant? Well, I am asking myself the same question! No wonder, my friends love to pick on us and always take the topic of how many servants we have at our home.

P.S: I am not all that unhappy about the situation at my place. There are many more Indian (esp. Gujrati) households that suffer from the same story!

Comments

Unknown said…
Dude.absolute same story of most of the gujju families.I wonder How to explain these things to mom..:-):-)
I wish I could also write similar blogs.
May 17, 2007 at 12:09:00 AM GMT+5:30
bmanisha said…
Nice blog! Its the same story in every house. My dad loads the washer and my mom even does some washing in advance before putting it in. Lots of steps to do even before the bai/ben/pori come in to picture
May 31, 2007 at 9:55:00 PM GMT+5:30
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