Observations

Time

We were hovering high above in the sky.

The flight had taken off from New York at 3.00 pm and was supposed to land at Kiev, Ukraine at 7.15 am in the morning. The total flight duration was 9 hours.

As the skylight dimmed, I lost my notion of time. My fuzy mind could no longer comprehend what time it was... was the Sun rising or setting?

My body clock lost its bearings. Time lost its reality.

Stranger

He washes my feet
paints my nails
massages my legs
offers moments of pleasure

I don't even know his name
focused on his work
a young boy
a perfect stranger!



A Maid's Life

A few days back, my mom brought along with her a full time maid from our hometown in Kashmir – a young, Bengali girl who had worked at a relative’s house in Kashmir. Though I was glad to have a full time person to help us around the house, I was quite stressed at the thought of breaking this news to our two other part-time maids – Nikilesh and Manju, who had been religiously cleaning up our house, cooking food for us and washing our clothes for the past one year.

They would be cracking jokes and sharing their life stories’ with us while happily polishing the floors or washing the dishes..  Just the day before , Manju made some excellent Rajma for me. She refused to use the regular Masalas, and instead insisted upon spending half an hour in making the Masala paste on a Silpata . I devoured those Rajmas.

Both Manju and Nikilesh had their tragic stories to share with us . Manju’s daughter had been murdered by her son-in-law last year. She had filed a case, had fought hard but had lost in the end. Witnesses had been bought over, and the entire community as well as the cops had tried bullying her into giving up the case. It was a heart wrenching tale. When I asked Manju what she intended to do about it, her answer was very clear, “I am waiting to get my younger daughter married. And then I intend to take law and justice in my own hands.” She declined my offer of legal support to reopen the case. She had lost her faith in the Indian justice system.

 I visited Manju’s shack the other day. It is a makeshift place in the backyard of a yet undeveloped farmhouse land. Nine people sleep in a single, small room which is packed with luggage. The cooking is done outdoors on a wood fire. A tin sheet has been put up next to the shack to provide the privacy for taking baths. There is no toilet. For that, they have adopted the nearby jungle. Water for all purposes has to be procured on a daily basis from a friendly guard working at a vacant farm house nearby. 

And this woman was going to lose her source of livelihood without any prior notification !!!

Nikilesh had also lived in a similar shack without any electricity till a few months back till she moved into a one room apartment in a proper house. Three days back, she saw a snake sliding out of the room, while she was busy cooking along with her 14 year old daughter. She told me later, ‘What can I do Didi? The landlord has used cheap materials for the construction of the house. The house is quite raw. There are gaping holes all over the wall. We keep filling them up with cement. The snake must have entered through one of these holes.” 

Nikilesh stands in a queue every Thursday at the Peer Baba’s. Dargah. No, she does not go there to fulfill some religious sentiment. Rather, she is excited to treat her three kids to the goodies she receives at Peer Baba’s on Thursdays as Prasad. 

She comments on the Government school that her daughters attend , “My daughters have not learned anything at school in all these years. The teachers are busy gossiping and eating. When we confront them, they advise us to send our daughters for tuition classes after school. However, the school keeps my daughters busy while I am working. We also receive money for uniforms and books. They get free lunch. And when my daughter gets into the 10^th standard, I will receive Rs 1 lakh from the Government which I can then use for her marriage. These are the real benefits of school.”

She had no inkling that she was going to lose her job, and she may have to cut down her budget further. 

I bid adieu to both these amazing ladies, and they took it very gracefully, without even a single word of complaint or resistance. I felt guilty.

I am yet to hear the tale of my new full time maid, Kavita. Going by past experience, I am sure that her tale is not going to be any less tragic.

I feel happy to read about a National Policy for Domestic Workers being under consideration. It gives me hope for the future of the thousands of domestic workers, who work endlessly without any leaves, bonuses or job securities.

Palmist from Pushkar

“Life is an adventure to be explored and not a problem to be solved”.

Just a few days back, I was in Pushkar, back from a fun-filled desert safari with friends when a palmist sitting under a tree caught my attention. I had been consciously staying away from fortune-tellers for a while but this one just seemed to beckon to me. I walked straight upto him and stuck my right hand out right under his nose.

He gave me a hard look and said, “ I don't do fortune-telling; I can only tell you about your personality traits.” That's all he had to say to win my favor and trust, for I strongly believe in the science of psychodiagnostic chirology, wherein you can construct the persona of an individual from the shape of his hands and fingers.

However, the very next minute he was telling me the name of my favorite author. “ Your inner being reflects the life and qualities of Herman Hesse” is what he said. I was blown away. How could this man know who my favorite author was. Not many people have read Herman Hesse, not many people know of his existence.

Herman Hesse, the man who taught me that life is more than a glass bead game; that I need to figure out whether I was Narciccus or Goldmund, and who my Demian is ; the man who inspired me to a life of adventure with his Siddhartha. And now this frail little soothsayer was telling me that I am a reflection of that great man's soul. I was dumbfounded!!! Could it be true? Could someone else see the reflection as clearly as I did ?

I absorbed this information with a sense of pride, and vowed to myself to follow the path of Mr. Hesse even more religiously.

Did this palmist change my life and thinking for ever? Did he steer the course of my destiny in some way?