October 18,
2016
Some days are
difficult here. I no longer read the Times of India because it is filled with distressing
news. But today I have a workman in the kitchen banging away and Sankar was
cleaning the floor in the area where I work on the computer so I went outside
to wait for Sankar to finish his task and I picked up the newspaper. Big
mistake. Two young people committed suicide because they were unhappy with
their grades. A 13 year old girl died of cardiac arrest after her parents
allowed her to do a religious fast for 68 days drinking water only. They held a
big celebration inviting everyone to attend to where there would be all kinds
of food and sweets to celebrate her fast ending. She started consuming food
again with some soups and that same day died. Thirteen years old! What parent
can assume this is a good idea for 68 damn days. I should never have picked up
the paper. Some things about India
On this same
day Sankar broke his promise that he would never steal from me. He talked the
service person into adding 200 rupees to the bill and Sankar would pocket the money. That is about
$3.00. The service man asked Rahul to
make out the bill in English and said his hands were greasy. Rahul complied
feeling under pressure as I was standing there as was Sankar. I saw the first
bill on the counter for 1100 but that bill was taken away and the new bill
presented to me. I had assumed since it took two hours to service the cooker
that the bill was increased. They had said it would take one hour. Later in the
day Rahul came to me and said ‘Madam do not trust Sankar anymore. Do not leave
anything precious out. He is making my job very difficult’. I said I didn’t
trust anything Sankar said anymore because he lies all the time, quite easily. Later
I wondered why Rahul said this and he had seemed quite disturbed. I went
outside where Rahul sits and asked what had happened today with Sankar that had
upset him so much. He asked me to promise to not say anything to Ron or anyone
else then told me what happened. He felt badly because he was dragged into it
and he had felt under pressure because I was in the room with the three men.
I was sick to
my stomach when he told me. We have been with Sankar just over six months. Next
weekend starts Diwali and he had already asked how much his bonus would be.
Rahul asked me not to fire him three times. And I think he felt uneasy ratting
on Sankar but he feels a great deal of loyalty to us. I told him I would tell
Sankar I had asked Rahul why there were to different bills with a price
discrepancy. Once I decided to fire
Sankar I needed to tell Ron but first had to clear it with Rahul because I had
promised not to tell anyone. He quickly agreed because he believes marriages
should have that kind of ‘transparency’ to use his word. Ron readily agreed
that this was the right thing to do.
The next
morning before Ron left for work Sankar arrived and I asked that the four of us
sit down. I needed Rahul to translate. I explained what happened and that Rahul
had told me about the 200 rupee extra charge. BTW Sankar offered to share his
bounty with Rahul. Rahul refused it and told Sankar he had done a foolish thing
to which Sankar replied ‘no one will find out’. As Donald likes to say ‘wrong’.
When confronted Sankar’s response was ‘the serviceman took 100 and I only took
100’ as though that somehow made it okay. Then he asked me to give him a second
chance. He knows from me firing his wife there are no second chances with me
when it comes to stealing. He had begged me three times to take her back and I
refused. I handed him a plastic bag and instructed him to gather up his clothes
that he keeps here outside in the servant’s area and to take all the
recyclables that he has been storing up here: metal (cans), newspapers, plastic
and glass. He loaded his rickshaw and I walked over to give him two bags he had
not gotten. I said “I am sorry it ended this way”. He said nothing and drove
away.
The next day
Kamla sent Sankar’s relative (I think they are cousins) over to see about replacing Sankar. Narian
has worked on our society for 20 years. I was told Sankar had called Narian
twice to ask ‘what was the big deal about 200 rupees’. I am so curious about
people who have no moral compass but say they are deeply religious. Sankar travels
great distances to go to various temples, he refuses to wear shoes because god
told him not to, he said he doesn’t eat sugar for the same reason, etc. I told
Narian to tell Sankar I didn’t matter to me if he stole five or 5,000 rupees. I
did not want a thief working in my house and he was to never come here again.
Ron had told Sankar if he even came to our gate he would call security. So by
the end of the day I had a replacement gardener and housekeeper thanks to my
saintly neighbor Kamla..
Narian may
turn out to not be as good a housekeeper as Sankar but frankly Sankar had one
disaster after another in his life, all of his own making due to very poor
judgment. He had asked for his bonus early so he could pay is rent. He had
asked for it the week before so he could go to his village two weeks before
Diwali to give his family gifts. Everyone tells us you don’t do that . Diwali
is celebrated when it is Diwali. Sankar was to have the whole week of Diwali
off and he knew that. So who knows why he wanted the money before Diwali when I
had already told him no. So I anticipate less emotional upheaval and family
drama. I can only assume that Narian has integrity or he could not last in this
small society of 75 houses for 20 years.
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