Shanti is the most fun, as she tries desperately to make me understand. She's a ray of sunshine, always beaming her gorgeous smile up at me (she's what 4foot nothing?), probably frustrated as hell at me, but never showing it while she struggles to find another way of explaining something to me. She's a crack up, once she starts talking animatedly, arms waving, with a little bit of acting to get the message across, she never shuts up.
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| Shanti's on the far right hand side |
Sadly, she's a little loopy after being mowed down some idiot test driving the only Lamborghini in Delhi a few years back, it affected her sense of smell as well as her hearing (not to mention a load of broken limbs) so I have to yell out when I walk in the room so I don't scare the beejezus out of her.
A few examples of her Hinglish......
"I am looking, I am seeing .... I am not seeing"
Translation = she has looked and looked for my missing towel & bedsheet, but she cannot find them anywhere.
Shanti waving her hands in the air and vaguely at Ganesh's direction in the kitchen saying "He is upstairs making, I am downstairs cleaning"
Translation = Ganesh will clean the top cupboards, I will clean the lower ones
"I am right saying"
Translation = I am telling you the truth
"Today morning, your nightie floor money put down"
Translation = money fell out of your dressing gown when I was hanging it up. God bless her honesty, I'd forgotten I'd put it there in my hurry to get the kids to school.
"It is broking, I will fix it making"
There is a hole, I will darn it for you
She's possessive, tells me I'm her most kind and beautiful Madam, gives me the thumbs up to show she really means it, then tells me that my tummy's too big, and I shouldn't wear 100roop dresses from Sarojini. She tells me off for doing the dishes, and for putting loads of washing on every Monday morning before she gets here. And when I give her, yet another day off to attend her court case for compensation for the nasty accident she had, she's just holding herself back from giving me a big bear hug I know. And I know she's eternally grateful for me giving her a job when she's old (yeah right she's a sprightly 57!) and after she hadn't worked for 2 years while convalescing. I don't know how her other "Madam's" treated her, but I know no other way but kindness, she's like a mother to me in so many ways (sorry Mum but you know what I mean!). I love her to bits ... even when she burned holes in my favourite dress and the table cloth we got as a wedding present, there's no way I can stay cross for long!
Our guard Pandey beams a smile every night I greet him with a Namaste. Our interaction is limited to "Namaste Pandey, Namaste Madam, how are you Pandey? Good Madam" .. if I try anything else I'm blessed with only ever "Yes Madam". I would really love to sit with Pandey and talk to him but it seems not possible.
KK our day guard is always smiling, always! I love noticing his hair has all of a sudden grown grey and long, then the next day, it's jet black again (a bad dye job if ever I saw one), and cropped short. I can't seem to make him understand I've noticed he's had a "hairy"! KK has this little quirk, he always gives me the car keys with one arm extended and the other holding the bicep of his extended arm, like years ago he did it to stop his arm shaking, and now he does it as a matter of habit. He runs every time he sees me walking towards him, I just cannot seem to get through that unless the house is burning down, he doesn't need to run ... EVER!
Lal still can't make eye contact, but it's just his thing. His last boss confirmed it, he never did in the 3 years he worked for Coakie Madam! I've come to really trust him, but still get frustrated that he doesn't understand just how much I know, especially about gardening! He giggles, every day I ask him how he is, seriously, like it's the most ridiculous thing in the world he's ever heard! Interestingly he seems to understand far more English than he did at the beginning (and his last boss was Dutch with a very strong accent?????!!)!!
For some reason he dares not ask me for holidays for the mali's so I have to prompt with a "hey Lal it's Gandi's birthday tomorrow does anyone want the day off?" "As you like Madam" is usually the reply. " No Lal, it's a holiday, if the mali's want the day off they can.... As you wish Madam. Please understand that Indian families do not regularly give off days. Ok Lal, here's the deal ok .... no work tomorrow ok, that means you too"!
I did laugh though when the mali's wanted the day off to pray to the lord of iron tools, Vishnukarma .. only cause I'd never heard of it before! Very sweetly, they shared with me the sweets I bought them for this particular festival!
And Ganesh, OMG he's hysterical! 
Not only can he cook and possesses more jewellery than I do, but boy he's a laugh! The day he came back from Yamato Ma (the asian grocery store) all indignant that they had recently altered the checkout layout out to make customers now pack their own groceries. He said "NO WAY, ARE YOU JOKING? NO WAY I'm packing my own bags. YOU MUST BE CRAZY, That's not how we do things in India NO WAY, packing? me? NO WAY!" .. I was almost on the floor! Ganesh endears himself to all our friends and has just celebrated his first anniversary with us!!
My heart broke when I interviewed my new maid, Gracie when she told me she thought she was 22. She's only worked for Indian's before and they clearly treated her poorly, as well as only paying her Rs2,000 per month!!!!! On Monday she explained that it made both her and Shanti feel bad to know that I had done the dishes last Sunday. NO amount of explaining would make her understand how uncomfortable I feel that they do my dishes and all the chores every day, that being given a temporary reprieve from housework was like being given a Thai massage and a pina colada every day, ONLY BETTER!!!!! Bless her! Gracie's moving in to our quarters on the weekend, and seemed genuinely touched when I told her all new furniture would be delivered today and that I have told all the men on the property to ensure her safety and privacy. I so want to give her the start in life she clearly hasn't had to date. And I just know that Ganesh and Shanti will give her the life lessons she needs to get her through. Next job, getting her to a bank and opening an account for her.
Gasper's a big kid. My girls and Nicky's boys with have this thing with Gasper where they, from the moment he sees them in the morning, have to chase each other and touch each other's head (like tag) but .... crossing your fingers is safe ... so Gasper drives all the way to school and back with his fingers crossed! Sometimes it looks a bit rough but Gasper assures me he's play acting and they're really not hurting him! They lock him out of the car, he locks them out, he chases them all over the garden, it's kinda like they have a much older brother, it's beautiful to watch! He loves it as much as they do! He asked me to bring him steroids back from Australia last trip (as if) so he can bulk up, if he's 55kgs I'd be surprised!
I could keep writing for days, but hopefully that gives you a little bit more of a slice of our life. In a nutshell, I love our staff and the interaction we have on a daily basis and there's no way I could survive here without them!
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