All about Maids....

One thing that intrigues me about maids - how generous they are with respect to resources in their employers' place. All the maids that I've had with me have come(obviously) from tough conditions at home but I've not had a single one being careful with water. They leave the taps leaking and even reprimands don't get them out of that careless attitude. Another thing that irritates me is their generous usage of the water heater - even if you tell them the water is already hot enough, they will switch it on again and take bath with piping hot water, even in summers. My last maid was alone at home the last one month and my telephone bill this time is unusually high. Ugh! And my new maid within a week of her joining has already given me enough hints that she'll ask me for a loan soon. My husband says that's how most of us do when we checkin into a hotel - make the maximum 'paisa vasool' of what you pay.One thing is for sure - these people will not have any sympathy for us and we on our part will always be condescending towards them.

Yesterday I watched Phantom movie and it's got me craving about the comics all over again. I was a major fan of them always and one summer when I was about 10, one of my father's friends lent me a load of Phantom, Mandrake and Flash Gordon comics. I still remember my joy at seeing them and the bliss with which I dedicated my every bit of free time to them! Reading them in the stillness of the afternoon with the cool breeze of the Kharva open verandah or the shade of the cashew trees is one of the most peaceful things in life for me.

My son's best friend is a girl and yesterday when I went to pick him up from school, she was giving him a fond goodbye. She was pulling his cheeks, cuddling him and me, I didn't know what to do. I looked at her mother for some clue but she was busy looking elsewhere so I looked at my son. He, highly bashful but very happy looking at the adoration, was standing stiff as a pole and saying bye bye. My husband is already joking if he should meet the parents.

Waiting for the Mahatma...

Another 20 days to go at the max and I want them to get over fast. I know that I have a tougher job after that but I'm having all sorts of trouble in my last month. I'm feeling week all the time, I can't sleep well in the night because my thighs ache sleeping on the same side and I have to keep shifting. And my doctor says I should sleep only for half an hour or so in the daytime! It would've been much easier had I been working but now that I'm at home, I'm finding it extremely difficult not to doze off. I think I should've been better prepared with a new stock of books or something but even there, I cannot have my preferred posture of lying down on my belly and reading. And on top of all this, I don't have the company of my mom like I did last time and my son thinks I'm as energetic as ever!

My young maid left yesterday and I've got an elderly one in her place. After I had given my old maid the notice, I realized that I could talk to her like an equal which I never did before. We talked mostly about various recipes but to my surprise, we talked quite a bit. May be it's just that I've never had the time before, being busy either with work or my son or my husband, in that order. But I've decided that after next one year I don't want resident maids anymore. I feel too conscious of their presence and the fact that they don't have the same hobbies as I do, they don't have the same topics that I prefer makes me keep thinking that they must be getting bored. It's all very easy for my aunt to say I should not leave such a 'high paying' job but she doesn't understand the flip sides of it at all. Who the hell wants to spend all her weekends just getting ready for the next week's grind? And with two children! And it's not that one is going to be jobless if one is at home - there are so many things one can do! I want to read lots, want to be a good cook, want to make my son learn music and finally when I get more time, want to join one NGO and try and clean up this damn stinking city.

A New Life...

My maternity leave starts finally and I feel as if I've retired from work. I'm almost certain that I won't go back to my old team when I join back and if the rumours of our shifting are true, I may find it difficult to join back at all. So it was almost a sort of farewell yesterday with both the parties in a confused state as to what exactly to say. Today it's been a strange feeling for me not having to do much till my son comes from school and I think I'll spend most of my limited energies trading online and blogging.

I also sacked my maid today and much to my surprise and relief I'm finding her relieved too. She's a young girl and I'm sure she must've been tired of the work she has to do for 3,500 for a month though for the quality that I get, I always find her overpriced. Anyways, there it is - I'll soon have my 4th maid in 6 years and I'm increasingly discovering that I don't like the resident ones. My aim is to be self sufficient soon but God knows if that can happen anytime soon.