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This is the story of courage and hope of a better tomorrow. Of how
some maids in Calcutta work to bring meaning to the lives of their
children. This story could be taking place in Kanpur or Jaipur,
Chennai or Hyderabad. Where very ordinary women try and make a more
than ordinary difference to their lives.
Namita
Das is 45, but looks much older. Her life is ever on a roller coaster
trying to manage all the work at home and outside. Namita is a jhee
-- the ubiquitous daily help in Bengali homes called bai or mai is
other parts of India, without whom the housewife feels quite at sea.
Namita works in five households, cleaning, dusting, washing clothes,
bringing the morning milk et al.
Her
day starts early; she finishes the cooking and other household chores
first. By seven o' clock, she is out. From her locality Kestopur in
the eastern fringe of Calcutta, from where most of the maids commute
to the posh Salt Lake area, she has to walk at least two kilometres,
and then cross a canal on a country boat. On her return home, she
does the washing, cleaning and other sundry work. She is entitled to
two days' monthly leave (though most maids take impromptu leave of a
few extra days). What sustains Namita's through this relentless
schedule? "The hope that my daughter and my son will do better
in life,'' she says simply.
Namita
admits she does not have to take on so many jobs at her age. Her
husband, a mason by profession and daily labourer, gets work most of
the days. They can manage two meals a day. But Namita has other
dreams. She hopes that her youngest daughter Reba, who studies in the
sixth standard, will pass the school final. Perhaps she would even go
to the college. And then, "she won't have to wash clothes day
in, day out, in other peoples' homes.''
She
laments that her daughter does not get much time to study because she
helps out with domestic chores too. "She is so bright. All the
teachers say so. But what can I do? I have to go out of the house to
earn.'' Namita has also arranged for extra tuition classes for her
daughter. "I am an illiterate. Who will help her with studies?''
she asks. All this of course, means extra money.
She
worries for her son too who is two years older to Reba. She was
apprehensive when he started mixing with a no-good son of a
neighbour. Worried that his studies would suffer, she sent him away
to a `boarding' in another village. The boarding is a rented house
where her sister's sons and her own stay together and go to the same
school. They have to cook and study on their own, but the school is
good. This again means lots of money for her and her husband who is a
daily labourer.
Namita
is not alone in this pursuit of a better life. It is a constant
struggle for many women like her. There are thousands of jhee's in
Calcutta alone. They live in bustees or as in Kestopur, new areas
curved out of wasteland. Many of them, or their parents have their
roots in Bangladesh. The first wave of immigrants from East Bengal
came during the Partition. The Bangladesh war of 1971 also brought in
a fresh wave of Hindu families. Even today, a fresh arrival through
the porous border with Bangladesh is common.
Gouri,
for example, came in the 1980s by paying touts at the border.
Unskilled at other jobs, the women take up what they know best --
housework. Some do cooking exclusively; some only wash utensils and
some are full time housemaids. Gouri is popular with the households
she works because she is regular in her schedule and honest. She also
has chronic anaemia and suffers from low blood pressure. Though the
doctor has advised her rest, she cannot afford to. If she is absent
for a long period the boudi (lady of the house) might hire another.
Gouri's husband is an unskilled labourer and her income is important.
She is constantly worried about her only child, a boy who studies in
the seventh standard. "How can I spend on iron tonic when I
can't buy milk for my son," she asks. Fortunately, boudi gives
her some food to eat.
Many
of the maids admit that the tea and roti or moori which they are
served in the households sustain them during the day. Most of them
return to their houses only in the afternoon and miss out on a proper
lunch.
Working
hard to educate the children is laudable. But in women like Namita,
one can also discern another subtle change in attitude. For, not only
does she want to see her wards aspiring for a more comfortable and
meaningful life, she also does not discriminate between the son and
the daughter in case of providing money for education. "Some
other women who work like me, can at least read and write. But I.
being the eldest and from the village, had not the opportunity. But I
want to see that my daughter doesn't lack in the facility,'' she
adds.
Namita
has not heard of the girl-child icon `Meena' that is being shown on
television to get families to send girls to schools. But she
practises what the campaign propagates. She regrets that her elder
daughters, all of them were put in schools, had to be married off
early under social constraints. But she is determined to let her
youngest one study and does not talk of an early marriage.
Perhaps
because of this new awakening, many children even with illiterate
parents have been to colleges and taken professions of their own
choice . Many girls have become teachers or learnt skills like
tailoring, and have been absorbed in small enterprises.
Yet
another change has come about. Some who started to work as jhee have
now become entrepreneurs in their own right. By using their skills
at tailoring and embroidery, they earn a substantial amount and
contribute to the children's education. Namita hopes that even if her
daughter does not get a job after passing her school final she would
become an entrepreneur. Economic independence is something she
herself enjoys and wants her daughter to have the same freedom.
As
a child Jaba used to accompany her mother to the households where she
worked as a maid. She studied up to the third standard but could not
continue due to some constraints. But Jaba was intelligent and picked
up domestic skills quite fast. Soon she was working independently.
Seeing her eagerness to learn, a housewife taught her the basics of
tailoring.
"My
mother often said that perhaps one day you will work in a tailoring
shop instead as a maid. This seemed a day dream then. At 17 Jaba was
married off to a fruit vendor. But her mother did something unusual.
The neighbours gave cash as a wedding gift and she added some from
her own savings and bought Jaba a sewing machine. Luckily for Jaba
her husband appreciated her skills and began collecting orders for
readymade dresses, cushion covers from households he visited. Today,
Jaba's husband has changed his profession from a fruit sellor to a
small entrepreneur in partnership with his wife. Jaba's mother is of
course the happiest. She has been able to change the course of life
for her daughter.
Namita
and Jaba symbolise an aspiration `to reach for the stars' even under
trying circumstances. Its rippling effect is changing the fate of
many a girl.
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