I am a domestic help.
Many utensils, the broom and the mop – every day from door to door I hop.
I make the house shine and those things that I patiently clean are not mine.
The more houses I visit, the more I make and some days my children get a cake.
Cycling helps me save time and the houses I go are nine.
Some days it gets hard and I also don’t have time off on the cards.
My work is my pride and in my eyes there is no divide.
My son goes to school and my daughter joins him too.
We are a happy family and it’s never lonely.
I am a domestic help.
Today is edition #2 of #WomenAtWork, a new regular photo feature on this blog. If you are interested to participate, please read the inaugural post and join if you can. I would love to see your take on the tag.
This picture was clicked in Magarpatta Society, Pune. I observed that the domestic helps used cycles to move around the huge campus and hence saved a lot of time. Inspiration comes in all forms and shapes. Most of all when you expect the least.
happiness and food 
Domestic helps help us to run our homes smoothly. We can’t prolong without them and we are also often troubled by them. Since, most of the times we are absolutely dependent on them, it makes sense to write about them. I like your choice of topic.
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The day when domestic help does not come , the lady of the house calls the domestic on her mobile number of times what went wrong .
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Praise be the domestic help who make our lives easier with their toil. We owe them a lot.
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beautifully written
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It’s wonderful that you wrote a post on them. In these busy times, its domestic help that keeps things running on time in most houses. It’s inspiring to see them work so hard to educate their kids.
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What would we do without them! A day’s leave and all our schedules are thrown out of gear. They have a hard life. Parul excellent choice for the theme.
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I am always grateful for the woman who makes my life so much easier! How gracious they are despite their poverty. What a great picture!
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How eloquently put, Parul. We owe so much of our lives and success to these unassuming women. We need more of them every single day. Hats off to their resilience.
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lovely ode to them.. They deserve it..
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Lovely read! Without these ladies we women would not be able to go and do a job outside the house.
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After living outside India for now 17 years.. the first thing I do when I see the lady helping out in my in-laws place is give her a big hug. No one understand why and I cannot tell all the ladies there how lucky they are. Lovely post 🙂
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The domestic help is nothing short of a fairy godmother. When people are harsh with maids for taking an extra off I sometimes wonder whether they’ll be alright if a family member is treated the same way. They ought to be considered as humans. I recently read about the fixed benefits for domestic helps being introduced in Rajasthan. I feel it’s a great initiative. Some of them are literally exploited.
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True! How much we owe these angels! You have put it so beautifully, Parul! Our domestic helps are so dependable, and on the days they don’t arrive, our world turns topsy turvy! And, what an irony, that they, who keep homes sparkling clean, have not a strong and firm roof over their own heads!
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You know I would love if I could afford to hire one.. it will bea blessing for me ..
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Very thoughtful post, Parul! Our maids/home-helps are absolutely indispensable people who make our daily lives so much easier! If they don’t turn up for a day we moan about the work we have to do and yet, how many of us thank them every day when they finish their job and leave us with a clean and orderly place to live in! I can honestly confess that I owe my sanity to my home helps, every single day!
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It sort of touched me. What a beautiful write up Parul. The poem has come out really nice. “Things that I clean are not even mine”, brilliant thought it is! Kudos to this Women at work thing you’ve come up..
Cheers
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Blessings to all domestic helpers that assist us. I love that photo, as well. This is a unique topic, to me.
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These people are taken for granted most of the time, but after living outside of India for the last 6 years, I know how much of a helping hand they are.
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That was an out of the box thought to write about a domestic help. But not all of them are very sincere. but again, why differentiate. Non-sincere are there in every sectors.
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Oh wow I remember that from when I lived in india how common it was to have domestic help there. Wow 9 houses . these ladies work so hard…
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we are so dependent on them in our day to day life that without them managing the home is impossible.. a thought provoking post.. we perhaps never give a serious thought to their home, their family and their life…
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Good post Parul
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Beautiful and apt dedication Parul.
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They are of absolute importance and help us carrying out the way we live… apt description, Parul… 🙂
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Hey Parul,
This is just awesome. With your simple flowing word you have captured the daily lives of one of the integral parts of most of the Indian families wonderfully. And yes they should be proud of themselves. No work is small. And they should be respected for what they do to earn bread and butter for their families and sending their kids to school so that they could aspire to be what they want to be.
Absolutely amazing and put forth in simple words. Loved it!
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Good to know that her children are going to school :).
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Its a blessing to have a domestic help and, every word you chose to describe just fits in, feel grateful for these souls. Thanks for this post, and nice image and with the cycle is something I have not seen.
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