Twenty- five Seven

Personally speaking

Recent Posts

  • Who will cook your food and clean your home?

    I was stuck in the traffic yesterday (nothing new about that) when I heard a jingle announcing the Government’s scheme to provide urban poor and unemployed persons with skill sets and opportunities for work other than as domestic servants and construction workers.“Don’t work as a maid or servant. Get a decent job! With the Rajiv Gandhi Urban Poor Employment Scheme equip yourself for a better life” screamed the ad. exhorting people to better their lives.   Honestly speaking , there is nothing wrong in that. Why should the urban poor be condemned to a life of servitude? Don’t they deserve a chance at a better way of earning a living?

    Sure – everyone should have the opportunity to earn a wage with a skill set  that helps him earn a livelihood. But honestly speaking what is wrong with domestic work? What is wrong in cooking and cleaning?After all it is an honest day’s work and many home makers are doing it day in and day out for free.

    I recently found out that a “maharaj” or cook earns upto Rs. 8000 – Rs 12000 a month for working for two hours as a visiting cook. He doesn’t so much as even chop the vegetables as that is meant for the minions at home. And as for washing up the pots he has used to cook the food – you must be dreaming. So, the “maharaj” literally earns upto Rs.24000 working in four homes for only 8 hours in a day. He normally gets to sleep in one of the homes he works in, gets his meals thrown in and works in homes that are really clean and comfortable with all modern conveniences. Similarly, a domestic house cleaner earns upto Rs.4000 a month for an hour’s job that involves swishing a broom like a magic wand and sloshing around water in a bathroom that is already clean.  These workers are paid in cash, have no accountability and can come and go as they please often demanding a premium as they are getting more and more scarce.

    The radio advertisement is actually spreading the wrong message – that there is no dignity in honest labour. While I agree that everyone should have a chance at bettering one’s future and that the poor urban population should not be forced to work as domestic labour, isn’t house cleaning and cooking career enough?

    Granted this sector should be more organised with proper labour laws in place protecting their interests, preventing child labour, abuse of servants, ensuring a minimum wage, health insurance and regular working conditions but to brainwash people into believing that domestic work is demeaning, will only result in the Prime Minister making his own cup of tea and sweeping his own home.

  • The Case of the Reluctant Masseuse or why it is impossible to get an appointment at Rewa Escapes

    It was the month of November and I was looking kind of tired (strange for me) when  I happened to bump into a young neighbour who was looking particularly spritely (strange for her).

    “What’s up?” I asked her unused to seeing her so fresh and rarin’ to go.

    “I’ve just come back from the most wonderful foot massage. In fact I’ve gifted my mom and my mom-in-law a massage too!” And she went on to tell me about this most wonderful massage place called Rewa Spa which was right by the sea side and made you feel you were in Langkawi…

    Since Langkawi was far out my orbit and Rewa Spa wasn’t, I immediately began making plans of visiting the place, picturing myself in this frond kissed spa, my feet splashing about in an tub with rose petals, my frazzled nerves being soothed by music playing in the background, scented candles lighting up the room and  soft hands gently massaging away my aches and pains.

    I immediately rang up Rewa Escapes, the spa by the bay situated in a bungalow by the sea just at the bottom of the hill and was told to call later when the manager came in. I called again and was told that I could go in by 11.15 since the spa opened at 11 and they needed time to get everything in place.

    At 10.50 when I was about to turn into the lane to the Spa, I got a phone call informing me that the appointment had to be shifted or cancelled because the ‘people’ hadn’t come. So I changed it to three in the afternoon. Once again at 2.45 I got a call saying that the people still hadn’t come so I had to cancel the appointment for the day.

    I was disappointed to say the least but soon forgot about it I quite forgot about the spa and till this Thursday when I found an unexpected free afternoon looming ahead of me. Once again I called the spa and was told that there were no free spots since it was Valentine’s day.

    By this time I was beginning to doubt the spa existed at all (even though it had a website) so this evening, much like Nancy Drew, I thought I’d check out the place to see if it really exists and was shocked to find that it does! I went down a lane towards the sea and found myself in front of Rewa House. With no signage for the Spa, I followed my instinct and went to the back ( towards the coconut trees) and found myself inside the spa. It was empty save for two attendants who looked ready to close up and I asked if anyone was around.

    “Yes, do you want some service?”

    No I wanted to tell her, I want to conduct an IT raid.

    “Yes. I there anyone I can talk to?”

    “Yes, the manager. She is having lunch now and using the wash room.She will be out soon.”

    I was kept waiting for five minutes at the very least before the manager showed up. Without so much as a smile or greeting, she came inside and asked me what I wanted.

    “I want an appointment.”

    “You will have to call up.”

    “But I am here now. Can’t I make an appointment?”

    “No you will have to call up on the day you want an appointment and then we will see.”

    By this time someone had called up and she told the person, ” Sorry sir, we have no availability today” and she put the phone down. She didn’t even offer to fit him in  another time on  another day. I told her that her approach was horrible and didn’t she care about getting new clients ? She said, ” well that’s the way we operate. If you want an appointment , you will have to call.”

    Foolishly I asked her if they had gift coupons. She said yes but didn’t even bother to show me the coupons. Nor did she bother to tell me about the different treatments they had etc etc. When I asked her if how the gift coupon could be redeemed she said they’d have to make an appointment and if they had a slot they’d fit them in.

    In fact it was the worst sales pitch ever. It wasn’t even an attempt at a sale. I was trying to ask her if they could suggest free slots, if they could describe the treatments on offer, if they could improve their attitude towards potential clients and she just shrugged her shoulders and said quite predictably ” You will have to call and make an appointment”

    Was this the wonderful luxurious spa that would leave me refreshed and rejuvenated? I wonder .


    Should I make another attempt at trying to get an appointment or should I just abandon the idea of a relaxing foot massage in the spa by the bay?

     

  • Those who can do, those who can’t give up!

    So Arvind Kejriwal has quit?

    What’s so surprising about that?

    I’ve always felt that Arvind Kejriwal was making the same mistake as the political party he loves to bait – the Indian National Congress. The Congress as it is commonly referred to was established to obtain self-rule or Independence and once this goal was attained, it should have been disbanded.

    Similarly, once Arvind Kejriwal managed to shake the government out of its stupor with a tremendous fan following as shown at his sit-ins, he should have continued to be the tantrum throwing child of politics rather than turning law-maker. Stirring the collective conscience requires a different skill set from actually becoming a politician. While both require strategy, cunning and guile, a politician also requires a certain amount of flexibility, adaptability and the ability to lead. Once part of the government, the rabble rouser becomes part of the establishment so how can he protest effectively against his own kind?

    In passing I heard one of AAP’s supporters say that they were revolutionaries – well if this is the case, they should know that Revolutionaries do not necessarily make good Government officials. Time and again history has shown us that revolutionaries make a mess of government – take the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution  and very recently the Arab Spring and the revolution at Tahrir Square.

    This does not mean that Revolution is counter productive – Society needs to have a shake up if the people are unhappy. Corruption, poor governance, ineffective laws and the ills of society have to be changed but those who demand change are not necessarily those who can effect the change.

    So let’s not be hard on Arvind Kejriwal – he has a job to do that is to waken our collective conscience. He has to stir us into a future where the “mind is without fear and the head is held high “and if we don’t allow him to do so, we will continue to languish in “the dreary desert sand of dead habit.“

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