A LESSON IN #HUMILITY

                        
 

                          A LESSON IN HUMILITY

Preeto woke up one morning to sounds of a roaring voice in the house. Her mom’s voice, from the kitchen, screaming at the maid again… Preeto ducked her head into the blanket and waited for the storm to pass. But the screaming continued, followed by the sound of something being thrown and then the loud bang of the front door shutting. Then silence….

Preeto drifted off to sleep again until she heard a muffled sniffling sound. She woke up with a start to find her mother sitting in a chair by the window, crying! Preeto jumped-up from the bed and ran to her mother’s side, “Mom for God’s sake, why are you crying, what happened?” Her mother cried even harder and just kept shaking her head from side to side, saying nothing. Preeto was truly alarmed now and she stroked her mom’s hair and waited.

After about fifteen minutes her mom was calmer and red-eyed red-nosed but calmer. She finally spoke, “That maid, she tests my patience every-day. I have to keep repeating the same things again and again but she just won’t listen. I have told her a million times to not boil more than 3-4 potatoes for us but she just doesn’t get it. Today again she boiled 10 potatoes and we will have to keep eating potatoes for a week. I just got so angry because I have tried to change this habit of hers for almost an year now. I just lost it today. I shouted at her and threw a utensil at the sink and then I roughly grabbed her arm and threw her out of the house and I feel angry and miserable at the same time. I wont be able to find another maid like her. She has been with us for nine years. She looks after all our needs, she does every little thing in the house. How will I manage without her. But she made me so very angry today. But I should have controlled my temper! Oh God! Help me! What am I going to do!” Preeto’s mom burst into tears all over again….

Preeto patiently let her mom cry some more and then brought her a glass of water and said calmly, “Mom don’t worry, we will find another maid.” She said a few more encouraging words and vowed to help her mother with the household chores until another maid is found. The morning progressed in a tense atmosphere. Preeto had to leave for work so other than giving moral support she could not really do much to help her mom. Her mother had refused help in washing utensils and after a sparse breakfast and no packed lunch (the maid was the cook too), Preeto left for work.

Throughout the day, Preeto could not get her mom’s tear-stained face out of her mind so she called up home often and her mom assured her she was fine. When Preeto returned home, a tired and depressed looking mother greeted her at the door. Preeto insisted that her mom relax and ordered home-delivery of food from her favourite Chinese restaurant. The bill was 500 rupees. She then asked her mother if she had searched for another maid. Her mother’s search had yielded only a promise from one young girl who was to show up for work the next day. Preeto was relieved but her mother continued to look gloomy.

The next morning Preeto heard her mom moving about at the crack of dawn and peeping out of the balcony again and again. When Preeto finally left bed she found her mother washing utensils at the sink. It was apparent that the girl who had promised to turn-up had indeed not. Preeto considered taking a day off to help her mom but her mother insisted it was not required. Preeto realized that just in a day, the household had come to a stand-still. Her mom had managed the meals but other than that nothing had been done. The house had not been swept, the clothes were unwashed, the beds unmade, the bathrooms dirty….

It was now day 3 and Preeto’s mom had a horror tale to narrate that evening. When Preeto returned home her mom showed her hands that had become rough with two-days of utensil-washing and meal-cooking. Her mom said, “I have spoken to no-less than 4 potential maids. I have asked the neighbours and the guard to send someone and have even called out to maids walking below the balcony. They are all either so busy that they don’t have time in the morning or they are so new that they want you to pay exorbitant amounts to supplement their income. They all talk as if they will be doing you a great favour by working for you. They are asking for 500 rupees each for utensils, sweeping and washing clothes. Then they will charge 300 rupees for cleaning each bathroom and 400 rupees for chopping vegetables; 400 rupees for dusting the house once a week. I have not even asked them to tell their charge for cooking our meals. Oh God! Our old maid used to do all this work and more for just 2500 rupees. I wish she would come back. She was so good. She was a quiet worker, sincere, honest and never answered back. Despite however justified I feel my anger was, I should not have lost my temper so badly at her. It’s not her fault if I am going through menopause. I don’t usually lose my temper but when I do occasionally, it’s in a bad way and this time it was worse. But I also think, I have done so much for her in the last nine years. I have compensated for the average salary by giving her blankets, clothes, utensils, water heater, room heater, a cooking range and food and large amounts of money on festivals. She was so poor when she had come to work for us nine years ago and now she has enough to marry her daughter. I gave her 1000 rupees just recently as a gift for the wedding. How could she have forgotten all that. She hasn’t put in an appearance for the last 3 days. I feel so angry and miserable. I know I won’t be able to find another maid like her. But my ego is stopping me from calling up the one phone number that can trace her. What should I do.”

Preeto just couldn’t bear to see her mom so miserable. She said, “Mom just have some patience, you will find another maid and over time you will be able to train her just like you trained our old maid.” Her mom didn’t say anything and after a while mumbled, “I will have to eat humble-pie.”

The next morning as Preeto slept, her mom called the number and her old maid landed at the doorstep, full of righteous anger and suppressed misery. The maid didn’t say much but warned in quiet tones, “Madam, I have only come because you called me. But I will not be able to work for you if you lose your temper again. If you behave nicely, I will work.” And after saying this she picked up the household chores from where she had been made to leave them.

Preeto could later only imagine how difficult it must have been for her mom to swallow her pride and bow down to the iron will of a quiet but determined servant. This truly was a lesson in humility for her strong-willed mother.

                     

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preeto's diaries - her stream of consciousness....

What makes leaders like Bal Thackeray and K S Sudharshan speak on behalf of a faceless people. Whether it is the Marathas or the Hindus, do these sections of society really subscribe to the views of their so called mouth-pieces?

Some such thoughts were teasing Preeto’s grey cells as she watched the raging debate going on in the drawing-room between dad’s friends.

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LET THE GAMES CONCLUDE AND LET KALMADI & CO. BE FORGIVEN! (preeto's diary)

Preeto was having a tough time not laughing out loud! She was on a metro ride, with hundreds of others, for god-sake! She was travelling alone, but her thoughts kept her company and with the biggest arse-hole of the nation on her mind, she just couldn’t stop chuckling under her breath!

It all began as soon as that bearded man had climbed onto her metro bogie! It was as crowded as delhi buses have always been and still are. The metro seems to have magically conjured up a few more millions into the burgeoning city population. That bearded man’s face was comically plastered against the glass door, across which Preeto was blissfully seated. Preeto could have sworn he had to pull in his belly to let the metro door close! He had reminded her of Suresh Kalmadi and then her giggling began…..

What had she read in the papers that morning?...yes!....

“Britain's Princess Diana may have died in a car crash in 1997, but New Delhi Commonwealth Games supremo Suresh Kalmadi thanked her for being at the opening ceremony on Tuesday.”  Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee!....Ho!Ho!.....Gosh! Preeto just couldn’t help it, that man was just so funny! …. And at the opening ceremony, hadn’t Kalmadi addressed former President A P J Abdul Kalam as Abdul Kalam Azad! ….Someone had even claimed that he said “Mr. Sheila Dikshit”… Hee! Hee!

All the public money, he and his partners in national crime, had swallowed during CWG preparations, was coming out through a series of goof-ups from the Organizing Committee President’s round mouth! Digesting the dirty money was perhaps now causing uncomfortable heartburn and lots of ‘gas’. Kalmadi was rightly booed at the opening ceremony, thought Preeto.

(image courtesy 'Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya's world of Cartooning')

It is a no brainer that corruption in India is at its rampant best. There is not one section of society that is spared from it. Corruption in the form of bribery takes the cake and given that it begins at the grass root level, makes it even more difficult to monitor and control. But then it’s not just that, said Preeto to herself, my country has begun to not just accept but ‘respect’ the corrupt.

They are given VVIP treatment, they live beyond their known sources of income, their children study abroad in elite institutions, generations will perhaps not need to earn an honest living, they own prime property in a nation where the poor are constantly driven out from make-shift homes, they are invited to high-society events and the next day their gloating, smiling faces are thrust upon the nation through the media.

Yes, Preeto thought, corruption is indeed now an acceptable way to be in society. You are a foolish, unworldly, outdated and old-fashioned human being, if you are not into corruption, nepotism and power-brokerage. No wonder then that the corporate world came out in support of Suresh Kalmadi after the spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010. This is because the CWG is a ‘business’ opportunity, just as the games preparations were, so corporate India has its fingers crossed, please no-more harm should come to India’s “image”, otherwise what will happen to the moolah we have invested in that “image”.

“In this country, payments are made without work being done. Newly-constructed bridge collapsed like a pack of cards. Rs 70,000 crore are involved (in the games). There is rampant corruption in the country. We cannot shut our eyes,” a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly had said.

Preeto was reading this somberly on her tiny lap-top, as by now the face of the fat, bearded man, the Kalmadi look-alike, plastered against the metro bogie door, had stopped amusing her….

*For the CWG, a treadmill is being hired for 45 days for 9.75 lakh. A cross trainer for 8.8 lakh.

*Diesel power will be generated at 80 per unit at some Commonwealth Games venues. The market rate is less than a tenth of this.

*Umbrellas are hired for 6,308 a piece and chairs are rented at 8,378 a piece for a month and a half?

*Tissue rolls are purchased at Rs. 4,138 for bathrooms.

*Clothes for visitors are purchased at Rs. 4000 from Adidas, MRP for the same is Rs.1600.

“The deals for the overlays — the treadmills, chairs, refrigerators and such-like that form part of the temporary infrastructure meant only for the duration of the Games — have Mr Kalmadi’s fingerprints on them. They have been cleared by the Organising Committee, of which he is the chairman. NMDC officials, contractors and each minister is corrupt. Congress must not get away from this in elections,” someone had written….

Preeto read further….The overlays deals total about 650 crore and have been awarded to four contractors, three of them having an Indian and foreign partner each. The most lucrative deals, worth 230 crore, have gone to the PICODeepali consortium….

Preeto sighed deeply and looked up at the bearded man (face still plastered)….the journey was suddenly seeming too long….she wanted to get off soon and get some fresh air….she really needed it, to clear her head because her next unholy thoughts were troubling her even more…..

It had been a Super Tuesday for India on Day 2 of the games as the hosts romped home with five Golds and jumped to second spot in the medals tally….does this mean, Preeto thought, that when the games successfully conclude and the foreign contingents leave and the poor flood the Capital’s streets again, Kalmadi and co. will be forgiven???

LET THE GAMES CONCLUDE AND LET KALMADI & CO. BE FORGIVEN! .... Can it be? Will it be? Should it be? ….the metro droned on…. 

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WHO IS KANISHKA SINGH? (preeto's diary)

Preeto had an argument with her dad last evening. She loves her dad, but at one point during the evening (with the cacophony of some news channel blaring on TV in the background), she could have bitten her old man out of sheer frustration. After all he was saying everything possible to burst her bubble about that sexy man, Rahul Gandhi.

Preeto couldn’t even recall when she developed this huge crush on the scion of the Gandhi parivar! He was just so cute, he looked dapper in those kurta-pyjamas and hadn’t she seen a pix in some newspaper supplement, in which he was wearing that cool black T-shirt! He simply looked amazing. Preeto had always been a reluctant participant in the electoral process, but she sure had been planning to vote for the congress the next time, all because of Rahul Gandhi….

But then there were all those things, dad said to her last evening! It had simply begun with her sighing and saying, “Rahul Gandhi is so cute and he is a great politician too,” while watching news cuddled with her dad. All hell broke loose!

Dad shoved her aside and said sarcastically, “This is the problem with your generation! You kids have no idea who makes a ‘great’ politician. His image now is just because of his mother. This so called `youth icon` is preparing to ruin this country. Enough of congress rule, they are destroying our country. Rahul Gandhi eats, sleeps in a dalit house in Amethi. What is the benefit for that certain dalit? Nothing. What is the benefit for Rahul Gandhi? Vote Banks!”

Even as Preeto, shell-shocked, tried to recover from the sudden change in her dear dad’s mellow mood, he rattled on, “In most backward areas of the most backward state, Orissa, the congress has been winning continuously since independence. But still the electorate is backward. The party is making a fool out of people and gaining votes by getting their sympathy. Rahul appealed to the people to elect them and they would dismantle the dynastic political system that they represent. Is there any sense in that? How will electing the dynastic people dismantle the dynastic political system? It will only strengthen it.”

Where in God’s name had dad acquired these views, wondered Preeto. When she could muster enough courage to speak up, she said, “But dad, the survey conducted by a news magazine showed that twenty nine per cent Indians want Rahul Gandhi as prime minister of India. He is young, dynamic, energetic and has a political vision. He gives comments on realistic issues; on issues like Rich India and Poor India; he has a vision towards social reforms; he gives a clarion call to the country’s youth to join politics. He has a vision of a developed India, a super power India.”

  

Dad interrupted loudly and said, “You stupid, stupid girl. It’s all only an image, a mirage. It is similar to our country hosting the commonwealth games by spending common tax payer`s 65000 crore rupees for just improving the country’s image, even as the poor here are struggling for livelihood and they lack even basic amenities required to live a ‘human’ life!  

Rahul, by just being the heir of the Gandhi family, is controlling Manmohan Singh & his cabinet. He does not have the qualities. We want a leader made by his own efforts rather than due to being from an elite family. And do you know who is Kanishka Singh?”

Preeto was taken aback by this sudden shift in topic! Kanishka Singh? Pray, why in the middle of all the gyaan on Rahul, had dad thrown this volley at her??? She just mutely shook her head in the negative and mumbled, “Nope….no clue. Who’s he or she???”

Dad suddenly got up, went to his study table and took out a few sheets of paper. They were print-outs of some written stuff, from somewhere. He just put on his reading glasses and read out aloud in a monotone, “There is a powerful coterie around Rahul and it is unfortunate that it is only that coterie that can get access to Rahul. It is a coterie of flatterers and inexperienced people. Rahul Gandhi has been for all practical purposes branded as a ‘yuvraj’, the future prime minister. Rahul Gandhi’s brigade has a varied group of advisors. His backroom boys include close friend Kanishka Singh, an MBA from Wharton who functions as a key functionary of his team. Kanishka Singh, a former student of Delhi's St. Stephens College, manages Rahul Gandhi's campaign tours, as part of the coterie.”

“The laptop-wielding Kanishka is in many ways Rahul’s chief of staff. His brief includes looking after his day-to-day programmes, coordinating his tours and briefing Rahul on issues and events. He also doubles up as his boss’s ready reckoner on constituencies, caste combinations and candidate profiles.”

"Kanishka Singh's father has been appointed the governor of Rajasthan despite the fact that he is close to Natwar Singh (who was expelled from the Congress). Natwar Singh is close to Rajasthan Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vasundhara Raje."

“An idea of Mr Gandhi's world view can be garnered from his friends and confidants. His closest political aide is Kanishka Singh but his political allies often come from established political families. Another man is Sachin Rao, an MBA from Michigan Business School and there is Jitendar Singh, Member of Parliament from Alwar.”

“Sachin Rao worked for some time with an NGO before joining Rahul’s team. Jitendar Singh is a family friend and also one of the two AICC secretaries attached to Rahul. These advisors risk becoming power brokers. One such candidate is Yusuf Ansari, 29, a graduate of the London School of Economics whose family has been in Congress politics for four generations. Hoping to be elected in the Muslim-dominated constituency of Mahmudabad, he has been cultivating the seat for two years.”

“Rahul’s principal advisor remains his sister Priyanka. The two are extremely close and he spends a lot of free time with her. If he is in distress and is allowed only one phone call you can bet your last rupee that the call will be to her, says a close family friend.”

 “Apart from the team that assists him on a day-to-day basis, Rahul also banks on the brains of people such as Sam Pitroda, former election commissioner JM Lyngdoh, Fareed Zakaria, the editor of the Newsweek International, Shashi Tharoor former assistant secretary general of UN and psephologist Yogendra Yadav.”

“So you see???”  Dad gathered all the sheets and huffed and puffed out of the room, as if he had made his point at last. But unknown to him a sheet from his collection had fallen on the floor, which Preeto clutched between shaking fingers and began to read as soon as dad’s back was turned.

“Some link Rahul’s combative traits to his taking up boxing out of the blue last year. Boxing is the art of inculcating an eye-on-the-opponent habit and sets store by patience and endurance, tactical sharpness and stinging delivery of punch – qualities that he seems to display. Rahul trains at a gym regularly. And quite often he has been spotted cycling around India Gate and even jogging in Rashtrapati Bhavan. This is clearly a man who likes to be fit for any fight.”

Preeto had smiled and stuffed that sheet into her cane bag…..

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WHAT COLOUR #LIPSTICK SHOULD I WEAR TO THE BOARD-ROOM (preeto's diary)

    Preeto was nervous, excited and confused in the morning today. It was her first formal presentation in the board-room. She was very confident about her presentation. She had it all covered, all the volleys ready…..she just couldn’t make up her mind about what colour lipstick to wear to the board-room!!

She had reached out first for her usual shade of insipid brown, then she thought, I need some extra colour, or else I will look the same as every day, confident but remote, reserved…..brown is too earthy, too serious….when I want to appear open to all communication…all discussion in the board-room….she said to herself.

Is this nude or pink better, she had paid out of her nose for these two shades from that fancy brand, because that pestering sales-girl had convinced her…..fooled her into believing the shades did wonders for her face. What had she said, ah yes, ma’am these colours will take years off your face….you will look virginal, pure, innocent, ready for your first kiss….ha! Preeto was now convinced that was a lie, because the lips were not the only part of her face. Who would fail to notice her kohl-rimmed serious eyes, which had been there-done that. Ha! Take years off my face, indeed…thought Preeto.

Ok, how about this maroon…oh no! she thought……the first image that comes to mind is of all the aunties in her colony, who seem to have made a bulk purchase of that very shade, as if it was a free offer with every purchase of Maggie noodles! But this shade had something going for it, that’s why it was so popular. It just seemed to suit the radiant Indian complexion. And with the semi-formal Indian attire she was wearing to the board-room, this colour just might do the trick.

Or else should it be this divine, diva-like, come-hither, sexy red? No! No! No! Her chauvinistic boss would be convinced she was keen on charming her way through the tricky presentation, rather than on the basis of the long sleepless nights of hard-work that had gone behind making it! Why did no-one take women wearing red lipstick seriously? SERIOUSLY!!! Phew! How exasperating of men, really! They have made being sexy, a crime for women….they are just jealous, thought Preeto, as God seems to have sadly lost his aesthetic sense, when he made their sorry species…..

That purple, or is it mauve,...whatever….shade looks promising too…..unconventional, unusual….won’t she look sophisticated in that one?.... Gosh, what if the boss thought she was turning rebellious and thought she had been hiding her true self, behind brown all this while…….what if she sent out one wrong signal with that one and lost her job….horror…how will she pay her mortgage…..chuck it! ….but its really nice…..sigh….

What had she read somewhere…. “Women’s lips are a representation of the female vaginal labia and since blood rushes to the genitals when a woman is sexually aroused, the labia are flushed with colour and that is the origin of the concept of lipstick. In earlier times, to lure prospective lovers, women would rub flower and fruit juices over their lips to send out mating signals. With modernity came chemical colours. So the colour of the lipstick became an indication of the mood of the woman, towards her sexuality.” ……. A jerk, who wrote that, said Preeto to herself….I wanna send out no mating signals…..not to that pot-bellied boss anyway….to that new marketing executive….that sexy 6-footer ‘chikna’….probably….but that’s another story…..right now only and only the presentation counts…..am I tired already….NO! the clock’s ticking…..need to get my act together…..ok I will pick this one…..AHHHHH…..not bad…..this is just right….its perfect…..right choice baby!

FOOTNOTE: Preeto seems to have picked the right shade of lipstick. Not only did she look and feel confident in the board-room, she gave the perfect presentation, handled all volleys and the boss actually walked upto her later and congratulated her warmly.      

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