LAKSHMI
This was one person who loved what she did. All maids always had a sob story to tell on why they were domestic help, this one too. In fact to me it sounded worse than other tales I had heard. She had a series of miscarriages and every time she delivered a baby none survived beyond 5 to six years of age .She had lost 4 to 5 kids. Probably it was some genetic problem. Only once she told me her tales of woe. She was a survivor. She was never bitter. She had just decided to be happy. She was always cheerful and boisterous in her love of life.
In retrospect, people come into our life, I think on a purpose. I was going through a difficult phase in life .I had given up working after 20 years. Relocated from Gujarat to Chennai on account of my husband changing his job. I did not find it feasible to come from Gujarat to Chennai for seeking a job as my husband had already shifted and I and my daughter were still at Gujarat. I took a risk of leaving a job I had been in for 16 plus years, which I loved and coming to Chennai and then looking out for one .It was also an attempt to keep a sinking marriage afloat. Probably that was a mistake, without the job to keep me mentally occupied I was full time pondering over the problems with the marriage, depression being the outcome...
Hardly two months into being in Chennai, I was just beginning to start applying for a job and here was my husband talking of starting off a business in Delhi at times or switching to another job in Bangalore. By then,I was in mood to deal with the uncertainty any longer. I told him I had enough. I was staying put in Chennai till my daughter finished her schooling. By then my daughter’s schooling had started and I was keen we do not shift her from school to school , state to state , one third language to another. He never the less decided he wanted to go ahead with his plans to shift and I decided I had enough of striving to make the marriage work.
All this digression from the Lakshmi incident was to highlight my mental state at the time Laksmi came into my life. She was God send. With my state of depression and my non existent culinary skills my poor child would probably have starved in addition to facing the tense situation at home. At least Lakshmi ensured everyone has sumptuous food on the table and of course her constant cheerful disposition was a blessing. From the loud boisterous “Good morning ‘Motacoose’ (that’s what she called my daughter never understood what that meant), at Six sharp in the morning till she left at 1 O’clock, it was sound of fun and laughter .She would go back home after lunch and be back at 5 in the evening for preparing dinner, so by the time my daughter was back she was around with her laughter and chatter.
She had a store house of amusing incidents to narrate; I wonder now, whether she made them up because she sensed my unhappy state. Considering the mess my life was in at that point in time I think it was her constant chatter that stopped me from completely going over the bend.
She was with me for those difficult 2 years. Because of the situation, the next academic year I yielded to putting my daughter in a boarding school. At least she will not have to deal with the everyday unpleasant issues at home. With her also gone, Lakshmi’s presence was like sunshine in an otherwise graveyard like situation.
Soon my husband left for Bangalore and I shifted house in Chennai itself. I met a neighbor friend a few months after shifting and amongst catching up with one another she asked me “ Usha what made you give away such fabulous saris to Lakshmi? “ Only then I realized she had been siphoning away things from home which I had not even noticed given my mental state. This was the second time someone was stealing things from home. But this time round I did not feel cheated. I just felt that for what she meant for me at that time she just deserved all that she took!
This was one person who loved what she did. All maids always had a sob story to tell on why they were domestic help, this one too. In fact to me it sounded worse than other tales I had heard. She had a series of miscarriages and every time she delivered a baby none survived beyond 5 to six years of age .She had lost 4 to 5 kids. Probably it was some genetic problem. Only once she told me her tales of woe. She was a survivor. She was never bitter. She had just decided to be happy. She was always cheerful and boisterous in her love of life.
In retrospect, people come into our life, I think on a purpose. I was going through a difficult phase in life .I had given up working after 20 years. Relocated from Gujarat to Chennai on account of my husband changing his job. I did not find it feasible to come from Gujarat to Chennai for seeking a job as my husband had already shifted and I and my daughter were still at Gujarat. I took a risk of leaving a job I had been in for 16 plus years, which I loved and coming to Chennai and then looking out for one .It was also an attempt to keep a sinking marriage afloat. Probably that was a mistake, without the job to keep me mentally occupied I was full time pondering over the problems with the marriage, depression being the outcome...
Hardly two months into being in Chennai, I was just beginning to start applying for a job and here was my husband talking of starting off a business in Delhi at times or switching to another job in Bangalore. By then,I was in mood to deal with the uncertainty any longer. I told him I had enough. I was staying put in Chennai till my daughter finished her schooling. By then my daughter’s schooling had started and I was keen we do not shift her from school to school , state to state , one third language to another. He never the less decided he wanted to go ahead with his plans to shift and I decided I had enough of striving to make the marriage work.
All this digression from the Lakshmi incident was to highlight my mental state at the time Laksmi came into my life. She was God send. With my state of depression and my non existent culinary skills my poor child would probably have starved in addition to facing the tense situation at home. At least Lakshmi ensured everyone has sumptuous food on the table and of course her constant cheerful disposition was a blessing. From the loud boisterous “Good morning ‘Motacoose’ (that’s what she called my daughter never understood what that meant), at Six sharp in the morning till she left at 1 O’clock, it was sound of fun and laughter .She would go back home after lunch and be back at 5 in the evening for preparing dinner, so by the time my daughter was back she was around with her laughter and chatter.
She had a store house of amusing incidents to narrate; I wonder now, whether she made them up because she sensed my unhappy state. Considering the mess my life was in at that point in time I think it was her constant chatter that stopped me from completely going over the bend.
She was with me for those difficult 2 years. Because of the situation, the next academic year I yielded to putting my daughter in a boarding school. At least she will not have to deal with the everyday unpleasant issues at home. With her also gone, Lakshmi’s presence was like sunshine in an otherwise graveyard like situation.
Soon my husband left for Bangalore and I shifted house in Chennai itself. I met a neighbor friend a few months after shifting and amongst catching up with one another she asked me “ Usha what made you give away such fabulous saris to Lakshmi? “ Only then I realized she had been siphoning away things from home which I had not even noticed given my mental state. This was the second time someone was stealing things from home. But this time round I did not feel cheated. I just felt that for what she meant for me at that time she just deserved all that she took!
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