Love Them or Hate Them??

The helps…the maids…The man/boy/girl fridays… we all have them around us, to assist us, to help us, to support us in our daily grind.

In fact, we love them dearly, coz because of them:

  • The house looks spotlessly clean…even after the children crush the chips into a million pieces or play in the puddle of Mango Frooti, fresh and juicy!, or throw the tiny building blocks at unimaginable places.
  • Entertaining guests is never a hassle, kyunki Help Hai Na!! Washing the million hundred dishes, cutting and chopping the veggies, especially the weepy onions and smelly garlic, or even transferring chairs from the room to the terrace and then back, making 2-3 dozen chapattis…they do it all!
  • The pet gets his daily dose of fresh air and long walks
  • Spring cleaning becomes easier and more frequent because of them…
  • All the never ending, mundane, tasks of the house can be coolly forgotten courtesy them…viz dusting the dust away from the every nook and crevice of the house…
  • You just saw that the stock of rice is dangerously low or the ‘dabba’ of salt is staring emptily at you…they can be rushed to the neighborhood shop to replenish the same.
  • The elderly parents and kids are well taken care of while you are away slogging or even partying.
  • All the sundry gifts, clothes, articles etc get utilized. (You may like to read my earlier post on this)

It is certainly a blessing to have them. But they can be painful too.

  • Doing the frequent vanishing act, especially when you have an emergency (When they don’t turn up is an emergency situation for me!!!!!)
  • Somehow, they have the knack of breaking or damaging or spoiling the most important, expensive or beautiful article.
  • It’s mandatory for them to take leave for the wedding of their neighbor ke son ki sister-in-law ka brother ki daughter!!
  • It’s always an advance salary for them and sometimes, it’s even an advance on an advance!! But why you do it…You know why!!
  • Punctuality does not exist in their dictionary. There is always a new and innovative excuse every time!!
  • TV and Them are like ‘One Body and Two Souls’. Just a visit in the TV room to get a key will transfixed them like Fevicol in front of the Telly!
  • A visit to their native village lasts for months at a stretch…while they had promised (God promise!) to return back in a week!
  • As soon as you try to correct them or guide them to do a job better, you’d see one long face the whole day!!
  • Sometimes they act so dumb, repeated explanations fall on deaf ears. For instance, one Charlie would ‘insist’ on washing even the steel utensils and crockery with wire mesh, leaving scratch marks all over…till I threw the thing (wire mesh, I mean and not the Charlie!!) out of the house!

Though one cannot do without the other, yet our relationship with them is mostly bristling with tension.

So, you have the eternal conflict…love them or hate them??

You sure, know, your answer, coz I know mine!!

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