Barathi: My HouseKeeper
I have just completed 6 months in chennai and some of them have just whizzed by. I continue to stay at the same place where I first moved in, enjoying exemplary companionship, first with Arup, then Ramesh and now with Amaresh.
Barathi,my housekeeper has been an integral part of my stay here and my ex and current roomies think he deserves a mention on this blog. So here we go....
I vividly rememeber my first day when I met Barathi. I had come along with Arup to check out
the place. The landlady had told me to call "Borraatee" once I reached the house. It is normal
to come across girls named Bharati in Maharashtra and so I when, I learnt that is the name of
the housekeeper, I was expecting a middle aged woman to turn up. And then from across the road comes a strapping young man of 25 zooming on his TVS bike. That was my first realization that Barathi is a guy's name in chennai.
Barathi makes a good sales pitch of the place and we decide to move in. Barathi appears as a
industrious person and has a decent grip of hindi which is a godsend in chennai. He is
generally attired in a lungi, folded up! He has 2 assistants at his disposal. Barathi has a TVS
bike which he regularly uses to commute between our's and the landlady's house for food etc.
For a long time his bike had a torn seat. My landlady had told me to rely on him for all our
daily needs. So right from breakfast to dinner and to cleaning the house, this was our guy.
Both Arup and I were pretty impressed.
2 days before we are to move in our room, Arup gets into some candid chat with Barathi. He
tells us that the incumbent resident of our room is a bad person and that he is happy that Arup
and I are taking his place. Naturally we ask him about the person and he tells us... "Woh
Daactar Hai.. Gandaaa Aadmi hai...45 years age hai....shaadi nahi kiya hai....daaru peeta
hai.....cigarette bhi... gandaaa aadmi hai....". The next day he tells us same
dialog..."Daactar gandaa aadmi hai... sirf 45000 salary hai....shaadi nahi kiya hai....daaru
peeta hai.....cigarette bhi... gandaaa aadmi hai....".I and Arup just cant figure the
co-relation between 45 years of age and 45000 salary. On the terrace, Arup and I come across
lots of empty beer bottles and cig stubs and we acknowledge Barathi's words. Our belief in
Barathi is accentuated when the incumbent visits on his last night here in a slighlty
inebriated state.
It took us only a week to realise that this Barathi who derided the incumbent, himself swigs a
bottle of beer every evening before having a number of smokes. A closer observation of the beer
bottles on the terrace, which we thought the incumbent left, turn out to be a local brand of
"Bir" that we had so often saw Barathi consume.
Then one day, Arup was returning late from work. In the dark corner of a street, Arup sees the
shapes of a young man smooching a girl. Arup thinks the shape is familiar and then realization
dawns when we come across the all so familiar TVS bike with the torn seat. It was the same time that Barathi was not responding to my calls to turn on the water pump!
I have to follow up small things like cleaning the room, starting the water pump, fixing the
lights in my room on a regular basis. Even before I finish my instructions, Barathi will start
saying..."Haan Ok Ok Ji...Pakka Pakka..".
I have just completed 6 months in chennai and some of them have just whizzed by. I continue to stay at the same place where I first moved in, enjoying exemplary companionship, first with Arup, then Ramesh and now with Amaresh.
Barathi,my housekeeper has been an integral part of my stay here and my ex and current roomies think he deserves a mention on this blog. So here we go....
I vividly rememeber my first day when I met Barathi. I had come along with Arup to check out
the place. The landlady had told me to call "Borraatee" once I reached the house. It is normal
to come across girls named Bharati in Maharashtra and so I when, I learnt that is the name of
the housekeeper, I was expecting a middle aged woman to turn up. And then from across the road comes a strapping young man of 25 zooming on his TVS bike. That was my first realization that Barathi is a guy's name in chennai.
Barathi makes a good sales pitch of the place and we decide to move in. Barathi appears as a
industrious person and has a decent grip of hindi which is a godsend in chennai. He is
generally attired in a lungi, folded up! He has 2 assistants at his disposal. Barathi has a TVS
bike which he regularly uses to commute between our's and the landlady's house for food etc.
For a long time his bike had a torn seat. My landlady had told me to rely on him for all our
daily needs. So right from breakfast to dinner and to cleaning the house, this was our guy.
Both Arup and I were pretty impressed.
2 days before we are to move in our room, Arup gets into some candid chat with Barathi. He
tells us that the incumbent resident of our room is a bad person and that he is happy that Arup
and I are taking his place. Naturally we ask him about the person and he tells us... "Woh
Daactar Hai.. Gandaaa Aadmi hai...45 years age hai....shaadi nahi kiya hai....daaru peeta
hai.....cigarette bhi... gandaaa aadmi hai....". The next day he tells us same
dialog..."Daactar gandaa aadmi hai... sirf 45000 salary hai....shaadi nahi kiya hai....daaru
peeta hai.....cigarette bhi... gandaaa aadmi hai....".I and Arup just cant figure the
co-relation between 45 years of age and 45000 salary. On the terrace, Arup and I come across
lots of empty beer bottles and cig stubs and we acknowledge Barathi's words. Our belief in
Barathi is accentuated when the incumbent visits on his last night here in a slighlty
inebriated state.
It took us only a week to realise that this Barathi who derided the incumbent, himself swigs a
bottle of beer every evening before having a number of smokes. A closer observation of the beer
bottles on the terrace, which we thought the incumbent left, turn out to be a local brand of
"Bir" that we had so often saw Barathi consume.
Then one day, Arup was returning late from work. In the dark corner of a street, Arup sees the
shapes of a young man smooching a girl. Arup thinks the shape is familiar and then realization
dawns when we come across the all so familiar TVS bike with the torn seat. It was the same time that Barathi was not responding to my calls to turn on the water pump!
I have to follow up small things like cleaning the room, starting the water pump, fixing the
lights in my room on a regular basis. Even before I finish my instructions, Barathi will start
saying..."Haan Ok Ok Ji...Pakka Pakka..".
Brijesh: "Barathi...Paani nahi aa raha "
Barathi: "Haan ok ok ji"
Brijesh: "Barathi..kal bulb le ke aao"
Brijesh: "Barathi..kal bulb le ke aao"
Barathi: "ok ok ji.. Pakka Pakka"
Brijesh: "Barathi.. thoda doodh le kar aao"
Brijesh: "Barathi.. thoda doodh le kar aao"
Barathi: "Ok ok ji.. Pakka pakka"
To expect Barathi to do whatever is told is akin to expecting our Congress government of
"hataoing garibi". To expect him to do the work promptly is akin to expecting Sachin Tendulkar
to win a final.. it will happen sometimes but mostly not.
All these are just many of his antics that spice up the life here (and increase my BP sometimes). He can be trusted with the room keys, gets the food on time - esp imp in the morning, has taken a sick colleague to the hospital, got warm milk when I was down with severe cold, helped me get my clothes back from a useless dhobhi and has told me about the "Naarth Indian and Keralite" "Figures" (young female residents) that stay in another house besides our's.
He is now starting out with his own guest house and wants me to move there. He has "promised" me excellent service and is ready to take payment only after the first month. Knowing Barathi, I am staying put in the current place, but I can wish him all the best.
To expect Barathi to do whatever is told is akin to expecting our Congress government of
"hataoing garibi". To expect him to do the work promptly is akin to expecting Sachin Tendulkar
to win a final.. it will happen sometimes but mostly not.
All these are just many of his antics that spice up the life here (and increase my BP sometimes). He can be trusted with the room keys, gets the food on time - esp imp in the morning, has taken a sick colleague to the hospital, got warm milk when I was down with severe cold, helped me get my clothes back from a useless dhobhi and has told me about the "Naarth Indian and Keralite" "Figures" (young female residents) that stay in another house besides our's.
He is now starting out with his own guest house and wants me to move there. He has "promised" me excellent service and is ready to take payment only after the first month. Knowing Barathi, I am staying put in the current place, but I can wish him all the best.
