Changes, Time, Rickshaws and Abetting Suicide

May 28, 2016

On Tuesday Hosha showed up and I was told by Kamla, my neighbor, that Sankar sent a replacement to wash her cars today and said Sankar went to his village for a couple of days. Tuesday Hosha showed up and said she needed 1000 rupees because her brother was in the hospital. I didn’t want to give her the money because I have never felt she was trustworthy. Ron was irritated that I had given in to her request. I made it clear to her the money would have to be repaid. She left and said she would be back at 2:00. I left at noon but Ron stayed home today because so few people are on campus that the dining facilities are all closed so he was working from home.  Hosha showed up right after I left and stayed one hour. I was infuriated because of what she did here. She sort of made the bed…she left a water bottle on the lawn after drinking it, she didn’t refill the other water bottle in the refrig after drinking all but one inch. You need to understand that we don’t just go to the faucet and refill bottles here. We turn on two machines that drizzles water into bottles and it takes time. So the rule of thumb is when you drain one bottle to refill it or there won’t be any water to drink when you want it. Her biggest offense was she left an outdoor faucet running after doing the laundry. I didn’t discover it until 7:30, six and half hours after she left. That did it for me. This was inexcusable. Water is not distributed here as in the US. It is distributed for three hours a day and goes into a home owner’s water storage tank. I have no idea how much we lost that day but she had crossed a line with me. As my chiropractor used to say “Tricia, you are one of the most flexible people I have ever worked with …up to a point then you are rigid.” That is the truth and I don’t deny it. Of course I am older now and not so flexible physically. 

Wednesday when Hosha showed up I showed her what she had done and scolded her. I doubt she understood my words but she got my meaning and she started to make excuses. I took her to the door and said ‘finished’. No one likes to have to fire someone (except maybe the Donald) but anyone who left water running in this parched country that has severe water shortages is completely irresponsible. Thursday Sankar returned. I sat him down and explained why I did not want Hosha to work for me anymore. When I took him outside and showed him that the faucet had been left running for six and a half hours, he reacted by putting his hands over his face and shaking his head. He got it. He apologized profusely. He worked his tail off and returned in the evening and did more work.

Time in India

We are discovering that time in India is a very different concept than in the US. For example Ron will either call or text the broker to report any issues with the house that require attention. We had planned to go out to eat on Friday night . We decided to go out two nights a week to relieve the stress of cooking and meal prep here. Sankar showed up at his appointed time which was 6:00. His evening shift is usually 6-8 or if he finishes up earlier he leaves then. Some nights we tell him not to come back in the evening because we are going out. Around 6:30 a man from the broker’s office shows up without any warning that he was coming, and wanted to look at the electrical issue Ron had reported. He went up on the roof with Ron, looked at it and left. About 20-25 minutes later, he returned with two men…electricians in name only Ron said. They were here about 20 minutes. None of these visits were announced so it would have been easy for them to come and no one to be here. This has always been the case. Today the owner’s are supposed to come to the house for a visit. They have just returned from a month’s vacation in Las Vegas and CA. We have asked the broker several times when to expect them. No word. So today we cannot leave to have a Saturday play day as it were because we have no idea when they are coming. They live about two hours from here and we want to discuss house issues with them so we are staying put. Perhaps it is because we live in an expensive neighborhood where everyone has staff in their homes: men to wash their cars daily in the morning, women to do child care, women to cook and clean the home, gardeners, drivers, etc. But we have one person who is here 9-12 and 6-8. So anytime we expect a workman I stay home. Often we are told ‘we will be there Tuesday or Wednesday which gets changed to another date on Wednesday evening or it doesn’t get changed until we call to say ‘what happened to you?’.

This is largely a cash society. Workman get paid when they finish the job so I would have to be home in order to do that if I were a homeowner. Since we are renters the broker sends someone over to pay the workman. No billing occurs as far as we can tell. Large grocery stores will take credit cards, most restaurants do not. My hair/nail salon is cash only.

Rickshaws

Yesterday’s paper had an article regarding rickshaw drivers in Ahmedabad This will be our last week hopefully of being completely dependent on using rickshaws. The majority of drivers have to shell out $2.25-$3.75 in bribes every month. That doesn’t sound like much until you see what their income is. Family income of 42% of rickshaw drivers is between $224-$298 while the rest earn $75-$180. Fifty two percent do not have their own houses.  A rickshaw drivers stays on the road around 9 to 13 hours out of which 3 to 5 hours are spent waiting for passengers. Keep in mind they are out in the heat all day long as it doesn’t cool off much at night here. In addition these vehicles are low to the ground and are open with the exception of a canopy over the top and back side so they breathe exhaust fumes and air pollution all day. I wonder what their life expectancy is.

Abetting Suicide Law

India has an interesting law called something like “Suicide Abetment”. Sometimes people who commit suicide mention in their suicide note that they decided to commit suicide because someone was pressuring them. It may be a family member often a spouse and the in-law for example who are pressuring for money.  Or it may be a business partner or someone they borrowed money from. There ensues an investigation and if proven correct then the person is tried and if found guilty can be imprisoned for abetting the suicide. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, suicide seems quite common here.

May 29, 2016

Our new Hyundai i10 Magna was delivered around 6:00 last night. Ron had to sign a lot of papers. It reminded me of buying a house and all the necessary paper signing. The salesman called to say we could come get the car but we explained that we have no intention of EVER driving in India so they delivered it. It came with ribbons and bows and was quite sweet actually. There were gift chocolates also. Our photo was taken and a print will be delivered to go into the frame we were given. One major difference here is the dealer takes care of the insurance. No car leaves the lot without being insured. It is rather handy and I gather there is only one choice of insurance coverage since no questions were asked about what level of coverage we wanted. The car will sit in our driveway until our driver starts on Thursday. Sankar has let us know he has a license but we prefer to wait. We have no idea of his skill or his insurance coverage and if he has met other requirements for a driver in India. Our driver, Rahul, signed an agreement that stated he was required to have met all state and national requirements for driving. Sankar has enough to do here with the house cleaning, laundry, ironing and yard. We also want an English speaking driver and Sankar has limited English skills, understandably so. I can tell you now that his English is a thousand times better than my Hindi! Today Sankar said ‘A, B, C, D, E, and laughed. If I understood him correctly he is now studying English. He never ceases to amaze me.

Last night we had a scare when we were prepping dinner. Sankar came into the kitchen from outside and turned on the faucet and no water came out. He dashed up to the roof and came back and said the tank was empty. Yikes. Ron then went up and confirmed it. Sankar left and came back in a few minutes and said there had been a break in the pipes at Number 20 Saturday morning and that there  had been a geyser. So at least we know it isn’t just us and that it will be repaired quickly.

One of the things that make Sankar very special is his initiative. He does not wait to be directed, to be told what to do. He sees a need and he addresses it. In addition he takes great pride in his work and consequently he does excellent work. I sometimes have a fantasy about being able to train others to learn from Sankar. He and I would develop a curriculum to train others to learn the art of housekeeping and to learn about the critical role of attitude. A person who could grasp the concept of attitude and initiative could command a better pay as does Sankar. My neighbor scolded me initially when I told her what I paid Sankar but now she is in my court. She hired him to wash her cars and she also noted that he does a much better job than previous men. Sankar also does much more than one staff member. Kamla has six staff. I have Sankar. He works a split shift from 9-12 and 6-8. He does more than housekeeping. I really want him to stay on even though we have had some rough spots when he got sick and because he has had to borrow so much money because Hosha was hospitalized and now his mother has been hospitalized. But I trust him. If he had wanted to cheat me, he could have left after I loaned him the 6,000 for Hosha and he didn’t. He has a great job here with very good pay. So I don’t think he will walk away from that.