"necessity" of having a servant

Namaste.
I got a letter from a friend, and the peice made me wonder. I am curious to get opinions of Indians and people who live in India for a while.

"When I was in India I learned by bad experience that Indians do not ACCEPT you if you are meditating and also do cleaning and cooking-work actually yourself."

Is it true?

WHAT? Says who? If you want to meditate, cook and clean - more power to you. Its of course more difficult without all the convenience of various appliances but that's your choice. The thing is that if people THINK you can afford it, then they assume you are being cheap by not having a maid or house-boy. Its okay to be cheap in India ;>

Totally agree this that from a point of tourist.
But the phrase that "if I want to come to live there I should consider and study Indian lifestyle first", made me think.

very fewwesterners who live for extended periods of time in India and set up a household do so without servants. Ashrams may be a different matter. I wouldn't know.

Maybe one way of thinking about it is that you would be providing employment for some people who otherwise wouldn't have that income. Money in exchange for services.....not thinking of it as someone cleaning up your own mess (that's the part of having a servant that I can't deal with....I was brought up to clean up after myself!).

Easy ... bang your ingredients into a slow cooker or in a pot in a low oven, throw your plates into a dishwasher, and your clothes into a washing machine. Then you can go and meditate to your heart's content!

being indian i cant imagine my life without servants...i have a cook, a gardener, a maid servant and a dhobi(to wash clothes)..
i forgot to mention my watchman...its not that i cant do without them but i'm just providin them with employment..... i have to leave india to goto australia in august and i dont know how i'm going to manage without having help there...but i guess i'll survive...

Few things in India are easy for an individual alone. The system is designed to frustrate individual effort in favor of collective interdependence. Thus the need, for example, to know someone's cousin-brother just to reconfirm an airline ticket. Cooks, houseboys, drivers, etc. are just part of the network.

It is not very expensive to have such services even to the ones with the middle class income.

We pay 600rs/month to a maid for cooking rice and washing large utensils. She spends about an hour at our home and does it to a number of houses in the locality.

The watchman is paid 5rs a month. I think he collects it from at least 100 houses in this area. I hate him!

An exclusive driver can cost you any thing from 3000rs to 5000rs. He will maintain (regular cleaning etc) your car also. You can send him alone for many activities like shopping, dropping kids at schools, paying bills etc. In that way he is a good ‘secretarial’ assistance.

Either you buy a washing machine or give it to the dhobi. We wash ourselves and give to the ‘iron man’ for pressing! A washing machine cost anything from 5000rs to 12000rs.

No one will question you for meditating or not meditating as long as you don’t talk much into the spiritual world and all at a regular office.

The trouble is you’ll get addicted to all these things once started used to it. This is one of the occupational diseases you get if you stay here for some time. But it is a little bit difficult to be a rebel in India.

to rab
Yeah. It works here. But imagine buying all this stuff for a year something stay and then giving it away to someone.

to beach
Is it then that you have to eat same rice in the evening, and not getting a fresh just cooked meal?
I also was wondering for some time. Do you have avocados in India or it is not an Indian fruit? I got so many in Sri Lanka last August but none in India staying March to November there. Maybe just not avocado session or I was in wrong places all the time?

"No one will question you for meditating"

I also thought, how would a seller of carrots know what I do when I am at home.

Rice is cooked only once, we use it for two times a day. A 2-minute steam will do the trick. We cook dishes ourselves before the meals.


Avocados …what’s that!??

Oh, no!
So you really don't have avocados there.

Well, rice is the easiest thing to cook. Then I'll keep cooking for myself, when I am in India.

aghori, i believe it is all in the way you (and I) were brought up land to peasants and factories to workers! so having servants was considered shameful (and putting one in danger of a prison sentence) the same way as it was improper to be just a housewife - all women in the Soviet union between 18 and 55 were supposed to be workig full time). somewhat contradictory, isn't it?

now having babysitters is a normal thing any working western woman would do, and having a cleaner come and clean your house... most of my Russians girl-friends living in large European cities have them! not me... i still imagine my Mum saying "WHAT? you can't clean up after yourself?"

the purpose of having servants is to save your time for the activities that you enjoy. if you like cooking, you shouldn't look for a cook. but very few people enjoy cleaning houses (although I have known some).

For what

Being servant is also a job for which they are paid.

Doing things by people themselves or servants is a matter of personal choice. A servant does the job fast and neat than most of us.

Give 2rs and that man, he presses a shirt in 3 minutes and delivers. For me to do it, it’s half an hours preparation and effort and never better than him! It’s not worth me doing it myself though at times we do it ourselves.

oh beach, don't ask!! read Animal Farm (Orwell) and "All animals are equal" (but "some are more equal than others") that'll give you some insight in a way i was brought up. and then read 1984.

or just write it off to cultural differences... it is difficult to explain some things. impossible in fact!

seriously, i still feel somewhat uncomfortable having certain things done for me by other people. giving out my dirty laundry in hotels, calling for room service (ie meals brought up to me), or having porters carrying my bags. maybe something to do with having grown up in a poor grim servant-less soviet town. also there is an element of invasion of privacy.

(the irony of things is that my current nomadic lifestyle dictates that i rely on other people's services almost all the time.)

anyways i got used to having own chauffeur in my few weeks in India. and no doubt i would get used to all other servants given time

added: you can read Orwell for free on internet: orwell novels