Our Maid

This post is about Manjula our maid. She has become a part of our family, just like Devraj the driver.

I still remember when we met her for the first time. She same for an interview, it was clear that the family felt a connection with Manjula on that day. Including the kids…. They both said that they liked when they met her for the first time.

She quickly learned how to clean the house to meet the ‘Vim Standards’. She quickly switched from the straw broom that you have to squat on the floor to use, to the swifter mounted on a stick. This was by upon persuasion from Vim. But she adjusted!! She learned to use the dust buster… again, a change from her norm, Vim initiated. These are adjust a few examples of how adaptable she is.

Now, she was completely learned our routines and styles. She cleans the bathrooms, she puts away the kids toys, she cleans the kitchen, she does the laundry (including folding), she iron, she mends our clothes (buttons, hemming etc…), she does the shipping for all the Indian food (dahls, rice, flour, etc…) she cooks….. and on top of all that, she babysits Mira and Milan too!! She is a true gem.

I have to say the best is her cooking!!! She has come a long way…. She now can cook Gujarati food better than me!! She has been cooking for a lot of neighbors and they are all digging her cooking!! And I am loving it too!!

Now we try not to take advantage of her. Some people purposely leave dishes in the sink from the night before for the maid to take care of, or they will have the maid work 7 days a week. For us, we have Manjula work 4 ½ days a week. She has Friday afternoon and the weekends off. She will come if we need her, but typically she has that time to spend with her family, she has 2 young boys. We figure if we take care of her, she will take care of us.

Now only if we could bring her home with us when we eventually come home… oh that would be golden!!