They Aren't Less
The people around me have always been my heart and soul. I have grown up in a joint family, and have inculcated a lot of family values from my great grandparents and grandparents. But not to forget, since my childhood I have always been with domestic help and they have always been family to me.
Today morning a question striked my mind.
Aren’t the domestic helpers or the lower class workers human? Why do we treat them as they aren't? Why do we name them as molkarni, kamvali bai, bai, etc. Is calling them mavshi, didi, bhaiya or kaka that difficult? Why don't we visit their houses the way we visit our friends' houses? Does the size of the house or the bank balance always matter the place where we visit or spend quality time? Does that mean, they are lower class and earn less, so they aren't good people?
I don't understand what's the harm in being friendly with the people who work for us. They are actually the backbone of every house where they work. They should be given the same amount of love and respect the way we give to our family members.
Isn't it our duty to be with them, guide them, help them when they need us? I am not saying you just help them financially but these people also need emotional support and they seek this strength and support from us.
We admit our kids in the schools where they are taught not to discriminate between people with different castes, culture, colours, religions, education; but do you all really think that we follow this at home? No, we don’t.
They work for us and we also work for someone, but at the end of the day we do party with the boss, in spite of having different posts and income groups. Every colleague of ours comes from a different family background but that doesn't stop us from partying together, right?
Bhabi, the one who took care of me since I was a baby till the time I got into teenage.
We know the mavshis working at our place treat our home as their own home, then why don't we treat them as our own family members?
I have always treated the mavshis working at home like my own. When they have tea I sit down with them on the floor to have tea/snacks and to chit chat. I visit their homes as my own, have some gala time, sit down on the floor and have their food with them. And I don't think there's any harm in doing such things. They also take utmost care of me when I am at their houses, but they don't forget to treat me as their own family member.
They have always been there for me when I needed them and now that I have grown up I always make sure that I am always there for them when they need me.
Parvin Tai, she was just 14 years old and took care of me when I was a toddler.
I know every relationship has its own limits, but according to me we should extend the limits with the domestic workers. We just take them for granted.
And if you are thinking what will society say if we visit and spend time with these people, then my dear friends just remember, “Just because people don't like the way you live your life, doesn't mean you are doing it wrong.”
Tara, who has been a friend throughtout my journey of teenage to adolescence.
I would just like to suggest to you all please talk to the domestic help.They also have problems. I am not saying to go and sit at their places but do treat them as your own family member. Don’t discriminate against the fact that they earn less or are from lower class and come from small houses. They are humans after all.
Thank you,
Tanvi Nagarkar
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