The Maid and The Robber

Based on a true story, during India’s devastating April-May Covid wave

People go to great lengths to have some pomp and show at their daughter’s wedding in India. In Lapierre’s City of Joy, Hari the rickshaw puller sells his body, after death, to pay for his daughter’s wedding, conducted when he is alive. His fears about what would happen to his uncremated dead body and his soul hasten his death and he dies on her wedding day, fortunately after the bride leaves her home.

I first saw Ranju back in 2008. She made me envy my neighbor, whose house she worked in. When I woke up, bleary-eyed from the school alarm, Ranju would be cooking breakfast for my gynecologist neighbor who left for work around the same time my daughter went to school.

Oh, to have a maid who came in that early in the morning! That Ranju must be a saint. Or else, my neighbor must have won her loyalty somehow….

It is always a bad idea to have neighbors whose kitchens face each other, have the same maid. As a result, Ranju has never worked for me. I found my own maid, and mind you, for a working woman in India, finding a good maid is almost as important as finding a good husband. Maybe even more.

There are jokes on social media about how a woman will tolerate it if you steal her husband for a night, but will never forgive you if you steal her maid. That is most certainly a joke, but you get my point.

As I would hang the clothes on the clothesline, I’d often see Ranju doing the same job for my neighbor. I’d stop and say hello, or ask casually after her health. Twelve years of meeting at around the same time each day involves some casual conversation, especially with someone as chatty as me. I’d never cross a line, though, in case my neighbor thought I was trying to poach her maid.

Ranju’s daughter is getting married. In India, we’re very hung up about gold gifts. A rich person will buy bigger items, like necklaces or bangles in gold, but even a poor woman who works as a maid will buy her daughter, or her son-in-law a ring.

Related posts:

Begun in ancient Korea, bokashi composting is a unique method of composting that utilizes fermentation, rather than decomposition, to produce a nutrient-rich compost in a fraction of the time of…

When it comes to marketing your product or service, it can be challenging to reach the consumer in just the way you need to. Consumers may not always understand the value of what you’re selling or…

We live in a customer-centric world where businesses compete to provide the best products and experiences to the right consumers. Loyalty schemes served this purpose for decades, providing insight…