Ganga

Happy & proud to announce that our house maid Ganga’s daughter Divya has got a job at Cognizant and is joining work tomorrow. Divya can now stand shoulder to shoulder with other boys & girls from more fortunate backgrounds. 

Ganga’s story of poverty, motherhood and aspirations could be the story of every house maid in India. She began her journey with us as a house maid about 2 decades ago. She was then barely 20 years old, with one child in arms and another 2-year old toddler. At that point in time she was forced by poverty and an alcoholic husband to contemplate suicide but good sense prevailed and she chose to live and fulfill her dreams through her children. She was extremely nervous when another housemaid from the neighborhood brought her to us. Her whispers made little sense to us and we found it equally difficult to make ourselves understood. Her innocence and situation prompted us to take her on though she was ignorant about household work and cooking. Then began the journey of slowly communicating and coaching her in household chores & basic cooking. She was very inquisitive and a sincere learner. Soon with her hard work, integrity & loyalty, she carved a place for herself in the house. 

She was the only one of 9 siblings (7sisters & 2 brothers), who had studied up to class 10 in Telugu medium. Seeing her hunger to learn we encouraged her to read & write English from my son’s primary school books. She soon learned to take phone calls and note down messages and phone numbers of the callers. Those were the days of landline instruments. The callers were impressed and shared their appreciation about her with us. 

As years rolled by she got her children, boy Kamal & girl Divya, enrolled in a local school. She was always in doubt whether education would give her children a better life, going by her personal experience of having to work as a house maid in spite of studying up to class 10. We constantly counseled her against such thoughts telling her that 

education is the only hope for turning fortunes and also encouraged her to look for greener pastures. She did manage a couple of jobs in the hospitality industry but kept returning, as she found herself more secure and happy with us and that suited us well. Soon she became a part of our family. Our relatives and friends who visited us would always enquire about her wellbeing. Most of them were also appreciative of her cooking and her sincerity. 

Through ups & downs of life she managed to get both her kids to complete school with above average performance. She was unsure and confused about sending them for higher education, more so her daughter. We again stepped in and encouraged her to send both the children to college and agreed to support her in this endeavour. Let me clarify that we have done her no favours, for she has paid back by enabling us both go to work without a worry about home. We could leave the house in her total care. She served my parents, more so my father more than any of us. In fact she was inconsolable when he passed away. 

We very often become ignorant towards the people who serve as our backbone. They work to make our life easy, but we sometimes take them for granted. We tend to forget that they are human too, with a beating heart, working brain, and emotions. Very often we don’t bother to share their sorrow, their pain, believing they don’t have these emotions. Why? Because we are paying them? But they are paying us back with their hard work and dedication to make our life smooth and easy, despite the challenges that they face every day. 

It’s a proud achievement for Ganga that her son has completed Engineering and daughter BCom this year. It was an emotional moment for us when her son & daughter came home with sweets to share their happiness and seek our blessings. We thought it would be wonderful to share their moment of joy with all of you. 

This article is a tribute to all house maids. God bless them all.