Pritam's Blog
The Help
A few months back, I got a message from Swiggy that I had saved around 27,000 rupees in the past one year. Well, how much did I spend on orders then? So, Pallabi has hired a help, a woman in her late 30s, to cook and do the household cleaning for me.
She cooks yumm and is very proactive. Might not have OCD like me but she is definitely a cleanliness freak.
My mom and my mother-in-law are not very happy with this arrangement though. Akela ladka and a maid, you know?
This is wrong at so many levels. In my 13 years in Bangalore, I have had mostly female flatmates. I am not boasting of anything. I am just more comfortable around women. Also, surveys suggest that females are more hygienic than males. So… Anyway, I don’t think I ever did anything inappropriate with any of them. In fact, they all made me a better human. Then again, I am a man. So…
But if they, my mom and my mother-in-law, are thinking that the lady will enchant me with her seductive prowess, that’s more humiliating, not just for me but for the lady as well. Just because someone, in need, works in houses, doesn’t mean they are that desperate and ‘characterless’. Despite all my cynicism, I believe humans are inherently good.
Pallabi was extremely furious when she came to know what the old ladies were thinking. I asked her, “What do you think?”
“What? They have such cheap mentality…”
“But what if something happens between the two of us?” I wanted to irritate her.
“It’s natural to be attracted to your caregiver. We always see patients falling in love with their doctors and nurses, even if it’s a phase. And I love you. I won’t mind if you too go through one of these phases.”
Damn! Even after all these years, she never ceases to amaze me!