Surviving Bai

By her count it was the 12th missed call in the past 15 minutes and Madhumita Dutta was getting frantic. So, in the middle of an important project discussion with the boss, Dutta, an IT professional in Mumbai, had to excuse herself to call her maidservant back.
"I knew that if I didn't call her right then, it was Maggi noodles for dinner for the family again." It is a strange problem that Dutta has to battle these days.She has finally found a maid who knows how to cook and clean, but this tech-savvy help comes with a strict cellphone code. "One missed call means I have to call her back immediately and two missed calls in succession mean that I have to text her the grocery list. She has made it very clear that she will give only 15 minutes to call her back and tell her the menu for the day. If you don't then she simply leaves without cooking. It's worse when she decides to call when I am in the middle of a client meet. No matter how many times I try to plead with her, the only reply I get is���'I've a lot of work. How long can I wait for you?' And given the fact that it has become extremely difficult to find a good maid these days, I have no choice but to go with her eccentricities."
She is still more fortunate than her friend Ritu Mehta. Mehta's maid has a son who is working in Delhi, and before leaving he had taught her how to send emails and use chat. Now she insists that she chat with her son everyday from Mehta's computer. "I don't mind that," says Mehta, "The problem arises when my son is using the machine and she wants to chat. So I am faced with an impossible choice of either bullying my teenage son into giving in or risking the anger of the maid." More often than not, it is Mehta's son who has to give in.��
The mobile revolution has consumed Mumbai's maids. They carry some of the best models and also flaunt interesting cellphone accessories. Jayashree, who works as house help in Colaba sports a Moto Razr, and pays a bill of almost Rs 1,600 every month. She has not spent a rupee though on all this. The handset was a Diwali bonus from one home and her mobile bill is paid for by another. "I told them that I don't want a saree (for Diwali). Just a good phone. If you can't give that your neighbour is offering a nice job," says the maid.
It is not just cellphones that these new age bais are content with. Nitin Ranjan has an interesting tale to tell about his gadget-savvy bai. Ranjan and his flat mate are both bachelors, and they recently rented an apartment in Lower Parel. Having taken up a new job in Mumbai, money wasn't exactly flowing in, so the only TV set that fit into their threadbare budget was a tiny portable one. When they hired a maid called Sunita, who actually stays in the same apartment complex, she told Ranjan, "How can you have such a small TV. I've a big TV and a DVD machine too." Ranjan's Nokia too is pale compared to Sunita's LG.
Some maids are far more disturbing. Journalist Preeti Singh's maid, "likes to sip the best of my gourmet wines while she cooks. The worst part about confronting maids about these issues is that they know everything about the household, which can be very dangerous when you have small children staying alone at home all day."
Another common problem with the maids is that in any given area a small number control the supply. So, they are able to exhibit a composite monopoly which, of course, enfeebles desperate working women further. Rupali Dixit, however, has come up with an innovative plan to free her residential complex in Bandra from the shackles of the maid mafia. There was a cartel of eight maids working in her complex. They could successfully bully every household with seemingly unreasonable demands. In response, Dixit built a common email pool so that the residents of the complex could quickly communicate the movements of the maids and alert each other of new prospects.
kavita.kukday@timesgroup.com