The Working Mom Diaries: Maid to Mother in the Real World

An esteemed client of mine has recently come up with this genius management theory! As he explained how every organization has 2 types of people: Mothers and Maids, all I could think was, leave management aside, how deep a life philosophy that is.

All Moms will know- we work for a cause; we have a mission, vision and goal. We are the household leaders, the delegators, the creators, the innovators, the multi-taskers. The maids, (cue collective head-nodding), are the routine workers, the ones who do the “job” without a higher purpose.

The problem with our lives today- and by ‘our’ I mean the miniscule part of society which is the educated, professional woman- is that we have taken on too much. We have to be masters in the home, super moms, champions in the workplace, all rolled into one petite Size 10 package with the perfect nails and hair. We have basically driven ourselves to a point where we do three peoples work single handed. No wonder we are all a super stressed, super tired, super frustrated lot with the occasional shoulder and mind freeze. Please don’t blame us. First time in the history of humankind, comes this animal which is apparently the epitome of efficiency and yet, falling apart at the seams.

Enter the MAID! (drumroll)

I know I would not have survived my working life without my Women Friday. I have had an army of them. Baby nannies, cooks, washing women, jhaaru-poncha waalis (cleaners), housekeepers and the occasional maalish-mausis (massage women). I am a veritable expert in the demographic profiles of both maids and professionals in 4 Indian cities. What is common though, is that they come in exactly for their intended amount of time, there will not be overtime without complaints. And if you ask them to do something out of their KRA, pat comes the reply- Ye mera kaam nahin hai. (That is not my job). Give them their mandated 24 days annual leave (rest is medical/emergency), and their salary on time and their annual Diwali bonus, and things may go smoothly ad infinitum.

Occasionally one will say- Aap ko toh apna samajhke kaam karte hain. (I treat you like my own.) And you get the sneaky feeling that a salary increase is in the offing. Like all good employers, understanding the motivating factors takes communication and patience, and the required perk (Demonetisation? I’ll help you open your bank account. Your daughter wants to complete her mehendi application course? Here’s her course fee.) And maybe, just maybe, under the façade of the no-nonsense bai, you may sometimes glimpse the didi, or the akka or the maushi, who is there to help you reach your own goal in life, without worrying about what is happening to the household, whether you are a full time mother, a work from home/ freelancer or a career woman.

(As published on siyawoman.com)

So fight on ladies, don’t in the least be ashamed to say that you leave your child with the nanny, or you don’t even know how to boil an egg, a cook does that for you, or that you get your weekly massage fix. Anybody may say anything they please, but you know you have earned it.