NO MAID!

Okay this is a bit mean, I just think it's such a good "english in India" picture.

The maid is gone! She got fired yesterday so what to do? And I know all you Irish people are going “SO?” but so close to Christmas it’s a bit awkward. Anyway now we have to do all the housework (Mum I know you’re smiling!) and prepare for Christmas. And we are all working jobs that mean we don’t get back till 8pm. And to top it all off Hyacinth has just got a really bad case of food poisoning and is being minded by poor old Gayle. I couldn’t stay back as I want ask for a week off for Jan and I’m a bit worried they’ll get all odd about it, as I’ve missed a good few days now, thanks to sickness and trips. But what can I do? The hotel is booked and I’m really looking forward to relaxing on the beach in Goa, drinking a nice cold beer.
Still trying to colour that damn mosque, driving me nuts now. Bellow is the night and day version of the ‘historically accurate’ colour scheme; using greens, white and gold with new stained glass windows and lighting.
Night
Day

Going back to the maid issue, I think this needs clarification. Maids, or Bai’s [sounds like a cork person saying Boy] as they are called in India (that’s for women, a male servant is a Pune [sound like rune]). They work and sleep In our houses and nearly everyone has one. In a country of such contrasting economic positions it is definitely one of the closest to home. They are servants (though I really can’t use that word, can’t get used to saying it, I stick with Bai) and they get paid quite miniscule amounts (in comparison to the pay of the family they work for, though quite a substantial sum in comparison to where they are from (usually the countryside). And usually they are the younger daughters of families who can’t afford the dowry for her. Sometimes the only two options for them is prostitution or become a maid. So they leave and come work in the big city. Either way the family gets some money (selling children can happen often in poor areas where desperate families will sell some of their children so that they have enough money so that they can survive.)

The relationship between employer and employee though is a hot-zone of trouble. I’ve heard stories of people who will shout at their bai’s and are exteremely rude to them for the smallest thing. The Bai’s themselves are not all blameless and it’s not unsusal to hear of a friend of a firend who’s been robbed by their maid. Actually one of out neighbour’s employed a maid who had a record of this and they only managed to find out on time before she robbed a load of stuff. So bad. I’m not an expert on Bai’s so I hope I didn’t get anything too wrong in this little blog, suffice to say that the D’souza were not horrible to their maid, in fact they were unusually nice to her and polite. This maid (Amita) just was being a [female dog].