Hyderabad: Maid for each other?

Chandreyee Ghose
[ 3 Sep, 2006 0310hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

HYDERABAD: Padma (25) shifted uncomfortably inside a packed bus taking her all the way from her village in Ranga Reddy to the posh house in Banjara Hills where she works as a domestic help.

Leaving her two helpless kids to the care of a drunk abusive unemployed husband was not easy initially, but then someone had to keep the hearth burning.

Only, if she had as much money as her employers she could also get a life ...Swamy (13) also wants a life. A bright kid who dreamt of being Amitabh Bachchan one day found himself in the big bad city of Hyderabad after the crops failed in his village and there was nothing to eat. Now Swamy swabs, sweeps and cleans utensils in a household where the employer's son of his age plays computer games and goes to school. Swamy feels angry and frustrated but then he has to send money back home .

There are several such Padmas and Swamis working as domestics in the city. Many work for families with double-earning members, who have little time to spare at home and all the money to splurge.

As the family's dependency on the servant grows, the latter too gets tempted to lead the life of his/her employers. The easiest way is to fleece them of a hundred or two when they are not looking.

Sometimes things get worse, especially when the employer oblivious to the fact that the servants are stealing would even cough up the legitimate dues of the latter. A frustrated servant can rob or even murder.

In fact, the bad news is that crimes by servants are on the rise in the twin cities. It is not just in prosperous Banjara Hills or Jubilee Hills but even the middle-class Secunderabad that is seeing explosion of such crimes.

But Nikita Ahuja of Banjara Hills and her husband both of whom work in the BPO sector and have little time for housework, couldn't care less about this rising trend of servant crimes.

Not only do they leave the home to the care of their servants, they are not too careful about their belongings either.

"I know my maid steals from my wallet when I am not around. I have lost count how much cash I have lost this way. But then with both of us working we can't afford to lose this maid. So we just overlook such petty thefts on her part,"said a somewhat apologetic Nikita.