The other day, I read an article in the newspaper advising the readers how to treat domestic servants. Among several suggestions, the employers were asked to give them a weekly holiday, raise their wages at regular intervals and treat them as one of the family members. I thought about our domestic help Nayana, and wondered whether we were behaving properly with her.
During my recent visit to Kerala, a relative told me about his domestic servant. As in every other field, there is a militant trade union for them, of which she is a member. It states clearly as to how the employer should treat the servant. For instance, the food and drinks served to her should be the same as those taken by others in the family. The working hours are fixed. She is given a day off every week. In a state where even the unskilled worker is paid anything up to a thousand rupees daily, the monthly wages of domestic help are far higher than what we pay Nayana. There are several other conditions to which the employer has to agree.
Nayana started working for us many years ago. Some of our neighbours tried to snatch her from us in the beginning by offering higher wages. When she refused, they would request her, unsuccessfully, to do some piecemeal work for them. She would escape by promising to get them another servant from her neighbourhood.
She has become such an integral part of our household that we feel uncomfortable if she does not come even for a day. If she is unwell, someone would go to her house and force her to consult a doctor, putting some money in her hands. She does not take any holidays except during Diwali, though we never say ‘no’ when she needs to be present elsewhere. It seems she prefers to spend the day in our house with all the essential facilities rather than remain in her house with several problems.
Though she has little formal education, she is intelligent. She has become so familiar with us that she understands our likes and dislikes by looking at our faces. When some of us burst out at times in Malayalam, she would understand the cause and comply promptly.
She does odd jobs like going to the post office for various purposes. Before I started paying the electricity and cooking gas bills online, she used to go to those offices to make payments. Though coming from a poor family, she is honest. We never doubted her when some of us thought money was missing. I often ask her to bring my money purse from my trousers. Even if it is bulging with currency notes, she will not even look at them. To our credit, we don’t take advantage of her ignorance and pay her generously.
Over the years, she has become a good cook of Kerala dishes, using coconut oil and fresh coconut. For me, she prepares tea in the manner I prefer, though she would make tea for herself differently by boiling it for a long time and putting spices in it.
