Monday, February 27, 2012

Rita

Rita

An elderly lady, educated, coming from a family that was fairly well off but fallen into bad times on account of her husbands craze for betting on horses. She undoubtedly was an excellent cook and house keeper. Not much of a company for my little daughter, but by then my daughter was spending the first half of the day in a play school she loved to go to. She would come home have her lunch and sleep for the next 3 hours. So Rita had to deal with her only for a couple of hours till I reached home.
Rita really endeared herself to the family with her evident love for my daughter. Some time after she had been with us one day I had asked her to come prepared to be delayed the following day as there


would be some extra work on account of it being my daughter birthday and we had a whole lot of little kids coming over in the evening. Next day Rita shows up in a kancheepuram sari and a gift for my daughter’s birthday. She won our hearts with that Gesture and of course there was her talent for cooking which everyone loved.
Everything was going smoothly, when one evening my husband asks very hesitantly “what’s happening around here?” He had a strange expression on his face – amused, surprised, doubtful, all simultaneously. I asked him what he meant and he holds up his whiskey bottle half full. So I tell that’s whiskey and he responds “its whiskey alright but highly diluted wiskey.For some time now I had a doubt someone has been consuming a wee bit and then pouring water to ensure so that the level remain where I left it.


”Oh my God the maid? “I exclaimed.
Though we laughed over it ,I was worried , so I came back from office on a couple of occasions, at odd times ,to check out if the maid was in her senses or sozzled!She appeared to be okay and in any case my husband assured that it was apparently only a small peg a day. So we continued with Rita, though of course all alcohol was kept under lock and key, thereafter.

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