Chaitra

Chaitra and her daughter Aishwarya.

Chaitra, our maid is simply wonderful. More than keeping our place neat and tidy, she's reliable and sweet natured.  She senses my panic when she plans to take a day off and tries to accomodate me as much as she can.  She is about 22 years old and her mother is the same age is me. It's hard to swallow that I'm old enough to have 20+ year old. Chaitra has 2 daughters, a 6 year old and a 4 year old. Last year, her 6 year old was attending a government Kannada medium school at her village (native place) and was living with her aunt. Chaitra has now registered her at a local government school  so she can live with them.  Chaitra, her husband, 2 children, her parents, her sister, husband and child all live together in a 2 bedroom home.  Her husband's salary is  4500 rs a month, she probably makes around 5000 rs a month. Her mother also works as a maid but I'm not sure about the rest of the family. Chaitra was educated up to 5th or 6th grade, and she had to quit school to supplement their family income.  She married a relative and feels fortunate that she has a good husband, he doesn't drink or smoke, and treats her and her family well. Apparently her mother-in-law could be a bit  nicer but she could do worse.  With rations and conservative spending,  they are able to manage every month on their salaries and if they're short, they have a friend that loans them some money. She is the first maid that has so far not asked for a loan.

For Ugadi, she and her husband wore new clothing and brought sweets for us. I was not at home at the time and missed meeting her husband but was touched by the gesture.

Her children attend a Kannada medium school and even if they finish high school, without knowing English, their options and their earning potential is severely limited. She knows that but at this point, they don't have the financial means to send their children to an English medium school.  A few months back I asked her if we could pay for her children's education. She seemed interested and spoke to her family about it but her husband was opposed to it. Given the language barrier, we couldn't quite understand why but later my driver's translation (after simplifying 10 sentences down to 1, he is a man of few words) was that her husband was concerned they could not afford the school payments if we were to leave. It is a legitimate concern. If it was Chaitra's decision alone, she probably would have taken up our offer but this is obviously a joint decision.

I'm still working on her and hope that by the time the schools start again, I'll be able to convince her but we'll see. I'm sure they have their reasons and the reasons probably go beyond what she's shared with us.