24 X 7
It was a Wednesday morning and the cold winds were giving her a chill down the spine. The cotton sari draped around her was not helping her either.
It was the day when the sabziwallah would come all the way from the main city and set up shop for a day inside the big apartment complex. The fast sprung apartment complexes were more or less like islands floating all on their own. Though they had all the modern amenities, were luxurious, the residents were dependent solely on the amenities available inside the complex to meet their daily needs. Or else they had to travel further into town.
The IT revolution that converted the city from “Pensioner’s Paradise” to “Silicon Paradise” created a chain reaction transforming everything in its way. The farmer in the outskirts of the city was now a rich suburban who moved around in the choicest of cars. People who could not afford to have one landline could now afford one mobile phone for each person in the house hold and would justify the necessity for the same. Basically IT revolutionized everything right up to the grass root level. The Apartment complexes were especially a paradise for any unemployed from the nearby villages which had no dirth of oppurtunities. They worked there as domestic helpers, vegetable vendors, car cleaners etc.
Soity stared at the colurful display of fruits and vegetables. It was little over nine in the morning and there were a whole bunch of people ready to make their buy. She gingerly walked from one set of veggies to the next, picking up as per the list provided by her Neha Madam.
Not long ago, Soity was happy being a housewife taking care of the house while her husband Binod used to run a Handpulled Rickshaw in Kolkata. Even though they did not have any children they were happy with each other. Suddenly one day the world collapsed round her. Soity learnt from Binod that the state government had decided to ban the Handpulled Rickshaws partly to promote the city as a nouveau-techno hub.
The couple was left high and dry. Binod was not abe to get any other job and they started running into debts. Unable to cope up with this one fine day he went and embraced the mighty Ganges. Soity was heart broken at the loss of her loved one. The Rickshaw pullers union had requested the governement to rehabilitate the families but to no avail. Intially, Soity got help from her brother’s family. As days went by she lost all the hopes of rehabilitation, she got herself registered in a Agency which helped her get a job as a 24-hour maid in the IT city. Now far away from home she was working for a Bengali couple taking care of their 3 year old.
“Soity, is that you?” said someone from behind her. AS she turned she saw Roma who like her was also a 24-hour maid. Incidently both were from the same agency and belonged to Kolkata. From about a year she had been her confidant in this lonely city. As they shopped they chatted non-stop about everyday happenings and slowly made their way back to their respective flat.
Neha was a successful career oriented woman in her late twenties who believed in the financial independence her job as a team lead in a major BPO gave her. Not that she had to work. The money went for her splurging on the latest trends in fashion, weekend getaways and on her little Princess Anusha.
As Neha sipped her morning cuppa, she started wondering what was taking Soity so long.
Soity entered to find Anusha waiting for her at the doorstep and a grumpy Neha waiting for her breakfast. Soity was still getting used to the unusual working hours her madam had. She used to go to her office at 4 0’ clock in the evening and come back by 3 0’clock the next morning. Soity had to get up and open the door and fix a dinner for Neha at a god-forsaken hour.
Shortly at 6 0’clock Neha’s husband Amit and Anusha used to get up and the whole new day began for Soity. Even though intially she found this very cumbersome she coped up really well.
“Where were you Aunty?” chirped Anusha excitedly. Soity smiled breifely at the child before going to the kitchen. She quickly transferred the vegetables into the refrigerator and started preparing the morning breakfast.
It was getting increasingly difficult to work with Neha she found. Though she quietly obliged she confessed it all to Roma.
“Last Night she came at 3 o’clock and demanded that she wants to eat gobi ke parata even though I had prepared some pulao” she bickered to her friend. “In my drowsiness I somehow managed and finally laid down her dinner. As soon as she took a bite her face was flushed. After that the whole house was brought down over my culinary disability. Even poor Anusha got up due to all the din.” She cried.
Roma tried to pacify her friend. She for once had got a nice household with understanding people. She secretly thanked god about how lucky she was. “Why don’t you try somewhere else Soity?” she said.
One fine day she took Anusha to the playing area. Suddenly she saw the postman entering the complex with letters. As Soity looked eagerly she saw the Postman go in the direction of her Apartment. The only person who used to keep in touch with her was her Brother. He lived in Kolkata and was burdened by his family of five. Suddenly Anusha came crying. “Aunty, I want to go home now. I am feeling hungry,” she said.
As Soity reached for the letterbox that day she found a letter addressed to her with a postmark of Kolkata. Her eyes lit as she read the contents written in Bengali.
That evening Neha left early for her work. She had an early Tele-con with her counterpart in the American office. After long hours of Tele conference and preparing the Fiscal week status etc. etc. she was just about to call it a day. She looked at her watch. It was quarter to two. She was feeling hungry. She had instructed Soity to make Phulgobi ki subbzi with hot phulkas for her dinner.
“Are you through Neha. Shall we leave?” said her colleague Sheetal from behind. Past 2 years had seen Sheetal and Neha climb the success ladder to become Team Leads. They were good friends and used to travel the same route from home to work.
“Give me five minutes” said Neha. As she wound up she was so releieved to call it a day.
Now relaxing in the Qualis, Neha felt the cool morning breeze on her face. Usually both Neha and Sheetal used to doze off till they reached their destination. Strangely that night they seemed wide-awake and were talking about things of common interest.
“You are so lucky yaar. How I wish I had a maid like you who makes hot food for you once you reach home. Especially at this time of the night. Even though I am hungry I am in no positiong to go and cook you know!” she said looking at Neha with jealous eyes.
Neha couldn’t help but thank her stars for the patient and caring Soity. She suddenly felt that she deserved a word of Praise and a raise too. Determined to talk to her husband the next day she dozed off waiting for the Qualis to stop at her apartment complex.
The early morning commuters’ trying to enter or leave the railway station was never ending. Then there were the hawkers trying to sell tea and coffee to the weary eyed commuters waiting for their trains. One of the hawkers was succefully selling hot idlis to hungry travellers. Making her way through the crowd Soity entered the general compartment of the Howrah Mail.
Amit was disturbed by the continuous knocks on the door. He looked at the bedside clock; it showed a quarter to three. Cursing Sioty under his breath he woke up and slowly stumbled onto the main door. As he opened the door an irritating Neha stood there looking surprised.
“Why the hell didn’t she open the door?” she said as she stormed towards Anusha’s room. She found Anusha sleeping soundly with no signs of Soity anywhere. Shocked in disbelief she now turned to Amit enquiringly.
“I don’t know where she went. After the dinner we all went to bed. I didn’t hear a thing of her leaving” said Amit.
As the train chugged out of the IT city, Soity was happy to bid adieu to the IT city as well as the 24/7 lifestyle too. She had heard a lot of stories about this city that there was no dearth of employment and her friends in Kolkata were waiting to take up a job here in order to improvise their poverty stricken lifestyle. But she didn’t have any regrets about leaving it all behind and going back to her place, the good old Kolkata.
The train had now gathered speed and was out of city limits. Soity opened her small bag of belongings and took out the letter from her brother. It was a letter that she was waiting for since a long long time. A letter of hope. A letter promising her of a better future. The government of West Bengal in compensation of the ban on the hand pulled or hath rickshaw, was rehabilitating the people and family by providing jobs to the Rickshaw pullers or their immediate family.
Standing in the middle of the living room for Neha, reality came crashing down and the whole world seemed to be turning around her. Soity had left her high and dry without informing her.
Neha and her husband were in no position to take leave since they had tight schedules. She had to go through the whole schedule of going through the agency and get another maid, get her adjusted….
She slumped into the living room sofa and dreaded the days to come..
It was the day when the sabziwallah would come all the way from the main city and set up shop for a day inside the big apartment complex. The fast sprung apartment complexes were more or less like islands floating all on their own. Though they had all the modern amenities, were luxurious, the residents were dependent solely on the amenities available inside the complex to meet their daily needs. Or else they had to travel further into town.
The IT revolution that converted the city from “Pensioner’s Paradise” to “Silicon Paradise” created a chain reaction transforming everything in its way. The farmer in the outskirts of the city was now a rich suburban who moved around in the choicest of cars. People who could not afford to have one landline could now afford one mobile phone for each person in the house hold and would justify the necessity for the same. Basically IT revolutionized everything right up to the grass root level. The Apartment complexes were especially a paradise for any unemployed from the nearby villages which had no dirth of oppurtunities. They worked there as domestic helpers, vegetable vendors, car cleaners etc.
Soity stared at the colurful display of fruits and vegetables. It was little over nine in the morning and there were a whole bunch of people ready to make their buy. She gingerly walked from one set of veggies to the next, picking up as per the list provided by her Neha Madam.
Not long ago, Soity was happy being a housewife taking care of the house while her husband Binod used to run a Handpulled Rickshaw in Kolkata. Even though they did not have any children they were happy with each other. Suddenly one day the world collapsed round her. Soity learnt from Binod that the state government had decided to ban the Handpulled Rickshaws partly to promote the city as a nouveau-techno hub.
The couple was left high and dry. Binod was not abe to get any other job and they started running into debts. Unable to cope up with this one fine day he went and embraced the mighty Ganges. Soity was heart broken at the loss of her loved one. The Rickshaw pullers union had requested the governement to rehabilitate the families but to no avail. Intially, Soity got help from her brother’s family. As days went by she lost all the hopes of rehabilitation, she got herself registered in a Agency which helped her get a job as a 24-hour maid in the IT city. Now far away from home she was working for a Bengali couple taking care of their 3 year old.
“Soity, is that you?” said someone from behind her. AS she turned she saw Roma who like her was also a 24-hour maid. Incidently both were from the same agency and belonged to Kolkata. From about a year she had been her confidant in this lonely city. As they shopped they chatted non-stop about everyday happenings and slowly made their way back to their respective flat.
Neha was a successful career oriented woman in her late twenties who believed in the financial independence her job as a team lead in a major BPO gave her. Not that she had to work. The money went for her splurging on the latest trends in fashion, weekend getaways and on her little Princess Anusha.
As Neha sipped her morning cuppa, she started wondering what was taking Soity so long.
Soity entered to find Anusha waiting for her at the doorstep and a grumpy Neha waiting for her breakfast. Soity was still getting used to the unusual working hours her madam had. She used to go to her office at 4 0’ clock in the evening and come back by 3 0’clock the next morning. Soity had to get up and open the door and fix a dinner for Neha at a god-forsaken hour.
Shortly at 6 0’clock Neha’s husband Amit and Anusha used to get up and the whole new day began for Soity. Even though intially she found this very cumbersome she coped up really well.
“Where were you Aunty?” chirped Anusha excitedly. Soity smiled breifely at the child before going to the kitchen. She quickly transferred the vegetables into the refrigerator and started preparing the morning breakfast.
It was getting increasingly difficult to work with Neha she found. Though she quietly obliged she confessed it all to Roma.
“Last Night she came at 3 o’clock and demanded that she wants to eat gobi ke parata even though I had prepared some pulao” she bickered to her friend. “In my drowsiness I somehow managed and finally laid down her dinner. As soon as she took a bite her face was flushed. After that the whole house was brought down over my culinary disability. Even poor Anusha got up due to all the din.” She cried.
Roma tried to pacify her friend. She for once had got a nice household with understanding people. She secretly thanked god about how lucky she was. “Why don’t you try somewhere else Soity?” she said.
One fine day she took Anusha to the playing area. Suddenly she saw the postman entering the complex with letters. As Soity looked eagerly she saw the Postman go in the direction of her Apartment. The only person who used to keep in touch with her was her Brother. He lived in Kolkata and was burdened by his family of five. Suddenly Anusha came crying. “Aunty, I want to go home now. I am feeling hungry,” she said.
As Soity reached for the letterbox that day she found a letter addressed to her with a postmark of Kolkata. Her eyes lit as she read the contents written in Bengali.
That evening Neha left early for her work. She had an early Tele-con with her counterpart in the American office. After long hours of Tele conference and preparing the Fiscal week status etc. etc. she was just about to call it a day. She looked at her watch. It was quarter to two. She was feeling hungry. She had instructed Soity to make Phulgobi ki subbzi with hot phulkas for her dinner.
“Are you through Neha. Shall we leave?” said her colleague Sheetal from behind. Past 2 years had seen Sheetal and Neha climb the success ladder to become Team Leads. They were good friends and used to travel the same route from home to work.
“Give me five minutes” said Neha. As she wound up she was so releieved to call it a day.
Now relaxing in the Qualis, Neha felt the cool morning breeze on her face. Usually both Neha and Sheetal used to doze off till they reached their destination. Strangely that night they seemed wide-awake and were talking about things of common interest.
“You are so lucky yaar. How I wish I had a maid like you who makes hot food for you once you reach home. Especially at this time of the night. Even though I am hungry I am in no positiong to go and cook you know!” she said looking at Neha with jealous eyes.
Neha couldn’t help but thank her stars for the patient and caring Soity. She suddenly felt that she deserved a word of Praise and a raise too. Determined to talk to her husband the next day she dozed off waiting for the Qualis to stop at her apartment complex.
The early morning commuters’ trying to enter or leave the railway station was never ending. Then there were the hawkers trying to sell tea and coffee to the weary eyed commuters waiting for their trains. One of the hawkers was succefully selling hot idlis to hungry travellers. Making her way through the crowd Soity entered the general compartment of the Howrah Mail.
Amit was disturbed by the continuous knocks on the door. He looked at the bedside clock; it showed a quarter to three. Cursing Sioty under his breath he woke up and slowly stumbled onto the main door. As he opened the door an irritating Neha stood there looking surprised.
“Why the hell didn’t she open the door?” she said as she stormed towards Anusha’s room. She found Anusha sleeping soundly with no signs of Soity anywhere. Shocked in disbelief she now turned to Amit enquiringly.
“I don’t know where she went. After the dinner we all went to bed. I didn’t hear a thing of her leaving” said Amit.
As the train chugged out of the IT city, Soity was happy to bid adieu to the IT city as well as the 24/7 lifestyle too. She had heard a lot of stories about this city that there was no dearth of employment and her friends in Kolkata were waiting to take up a job here in order to improvise their poverty stricken lifestyle. But she didn’t have any regrets about leaving it all behind and going back to her place, the good old Kolkata.
The train had now gathered speed and was out of city limits. Soity opened her small bag of belongings and took out the letter from her brother. It was a letter that she was waiting for since a long long time. A letter of hope. A letter promising her of a better future. The government of West Bengal in compensation of the ban on the hand pulled or hath rickshaw, was rehabilitating the people and family by providing jobs to the Rickshaw pullers or their immediate family.
Standing in the middle of the living room for Neha, reality came crashing down and the whole world seemed to be turning around her. Soity had left her high and dry without informing her.
Neha and her husband were in no position to take leave since they had tight schedules. She had to go through the whole schedule of going through the agency and get another maid, get her adjusted….
She slumped into the living room sofa and dreaded the days to come..
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