when I reached Annamalais ...the husband and I stayed with a senior from their company and I loved it ...as they had quite a few books for safe keeping ..from the Valparai Tea Club which was burned downed ....plus they were north Indians ...ergo I could eat flat bread Every day ....the husband could not zzzzzz because of the flat bread diet at night ...he is a hard core 'rice eater' from Assam ...finally I got sick of his cribbing and I told the lady of the house and we laughed and there was rice served at night too .... I got an earful for being so direct with a Senior and someone I had just met .... in Pune we are Direct as Direct can be ...we call a spade a spade and believe in asking and suggesting things to people Point Blank ....
when I finally shifted to this bungalow of my own ....the person in the snap with my mom and me is Shaktivelu ...he was the cook assigned to this bungalow and the young guy in the first snap wearing the shirt with black and white checks was the gardener...we got just two bungalow help as compared to 7 in Assam ....some companies like The Assam Company Ltd ...the last Tea Company the husband worked for ...assigned 12 househelp initially and was lowered to 10 after a point and that translated to a rise in the payscale for executives ....we women would keep saying how we could do the work the Help do and get that income in cash rather than in kind .....as house help who had moods and egos of their own ...which would lead to much heartache for the Tea Widows aka wives ....most tea women spend most of their time on their own ergo my preference for the word Widow ...
Shaktivelu was an OK cook ...the issue I had with him was ...getting him to wash hands post going to the loo ...I always keep soap in the kitchen for myself and the househelp ... however he would be miserly with the hand washing and it would irk me ....he also liked to chuck things and could go on about stuff ...I ignored him most of the time and we took Ajit, the gardener with us on trips to the town ...as Shaktivelu was quite a grouch on the long trips to town ...
once the husband had to go to Ooty for a training prog for 3 days .... I was ordered to make Shaktivelu zzz in the kitchen and I got a little scared of him and bolted the kitchen door from the pantry side too ....it was irritating as late at night I could not go get some water and stuff from the fridge in the kitchen ....
I decided that I would not allow him to zzzzz in the bungalow the next day as it was a very peacefull night ....no elephants came to the bungalow side and I decided I would take a chance with them elephants IF need be ...however I needed the run of the entire house at night ....plus another assistant who used to stay in that bungalow I was staying in ....arrived at the bungalow gate the next morning and howled at Shaktivelu on top of his voice using Foul words I have Never heard in Public ..he swore in English and Hindi and I wondered if the cook understood those words .... as he only spoke Tamil with a wee bit of English ...as the husband spoke Only English with the househelp in Annamalais ...the tea executive was yelling at Shaktivelu for creating problems for his wife at the Crèche aka Daycare for workers children ...
soon my parents came for a visit and they got a lot of stuff for me from Kerala ...they came to take us to Kerala ...however the husband's boss did not give us leave and the husband never got to see Kerala ...
I shared stuff my parents bought with the househelp ....and by then Ajit, the gardener was staying in the Staff quarters at the back of the bungalow .... and he had the keys to the bungalow ...so that in case there was a company guest he could make the person comfortable in our absence ...that is the rule on T.Estates ...the house is kept spick and span and open at all times ... as those remote estates do not have hotels for company guests to stay and it was the duty of executives to host company guests ...If we had family coming over ...we had to inform the office ...
one thing from Kerala I like very much is called Avloose podi ...it's made with powdered rice and grated coconut which is dry roasted to a pale brown colour and can be stored for a long time ...it can be had either with milk and sugar or with mashed bananas ... for breakfast or as a snack ...
my mom's twin always sends a big packet of it for us siblings everytime some one comes to visit from Kerala ....
one day the husband's boss invited my parents and me and the entire estate for a party ....I was not keen to go as I was petrified of the boss ...a person born and brought up in Kerala however of Punjabi origin ...he was a unique piece of work in a very negative way ....however both he and his wife were very gracious hosts ...of course everyone in Tea... have to be gracious hosts ... however that day before going for the party I forgot to put the tin with the avloos podi in the bedroom and lock it ....the master bedroom is the only room that we can lock and keep the keys for with ourselves ....
when I came back and took the tin for morning breakfast I noticed a big difference in the amount in the tin ...I obviously thought the gardener took it as he is the one with the house keys .... I kept talking about it to my parents in Malayalam and then I told them about how the pilfering of things is 10times worse in Assam ....
my parents left and soon I caught the pilferer red handed and as opposed to what I had thought ...it was the cook Shaktivelu who was going ballistic about everything and one day reported to work Drunk ... I spoke to the lady who used to stay in that bungalow before and she suggested terminating his services immediately ....which I did ...
however ...now the question was who to take on as a cook ....I called the gardener Ajit and had a talk with him ...and I promised to teach him and protect him from the Chinna Dorai's temper too...the husband was called Chinna Dorai aka Little Master ...as the senior Executive is the Dorai or Master ...and I was called Amma aka Mam ...
Ajit the gardener would shiver if the husband was having a tantrum ....ergo I needed to pacify him about No shouting from the Chinna Dorai ....he agreed after a lot of prodding ...I even talked to his wife ...a very sweet girl ...she was happy to be living alone with her hubby for the first time after marriage in the house behind the bungalow.... and I was happy to have them as there was someone IF I needed any help ...
I taught Ajit with patience and was happy to know he knew Malayalam and English too and was a 12grade pass out ....and a bit of an IOH moment too that was ...as he must have understood what I was talking with my parents a few weeks earlier about pilfering....anyways he was very helpfull and could take down notes when the father-in-law called from Assam in our absence ....by now he had the keys to the kitchen and bungalow and he being a very fast learner ...he knew all our preferences and I did not have to wake up at 5.40am to make tea and a snack for the husband ...he would come make stuff and leave and come back at 8ish to make breakfast ...the fallout was ....I used to spend all my time reading and writing and started a course in Taxation laws from a Distance Learning College in Kerala ... and I started gaining weight ... LOL
I used to constantly encourage Ajit to go for higher studies ...I even offered to help him with the course work ...however he kept putting it off ....however with Ajit at home ....as cook and caretaker ....
I could go for club meets and dance practice for the club competitions and Ajit would make cook lunch and serve the Chinna Dorai in my absence .... life was fun and games and peacefull too ....he would handle stuff when I had guests and since he was there I knew the gardener would not pilfer anything either ...he took care of everything
disaster struck when he got chicken pox and his mother wanted him to shift back to the labour lines ...plus she stopped him from coming to the bungalow as it meant late nights ...due to the husband and I getting nominated to represent the Tea Estate for All District club Dos ...we were going for parties during Independence day and every other meet ...which was at a 1 hours drive away from the estate ....soon things started getting worse on the estate and we were going to leave ...I sent word for Ajit's mom and told her I need her son for the little time I was there as he knew stuff and I had a huge amount to do on my hands ....she grudgingly agreed and both Ajit and his wife were sad for me ...as were leaving Annamalais ...
I learnt quite a bit of gardening and home remedies from Ajit and I doubled my advise that he take up higher studies and shift out for better opportunities
that is when Ajit told me about the Hill people and how everyone was simple and kind and hardworking as compared to the people of the plains ...he said he was so used to the air and people of the mountains ...that he could not adjust to things in the plains ....however he said he was toying with the idea of shifting to Tirupur and joining the Booming hosiery industry ...
soon packing to send stuff to Assam by road started ...and Ajit was a big help as he could read our transfer book and tick stuff for us ....as we packed and we were totally dependent on him ....we planned to leave quite a bit of things for his family and him .... however the gardener who came into the house rarely ...started playing up and a week before leaving the gardener took the weight of the pressure cooker ....and I discussed with Ajit how we would have to pay the price of the pressure cooker IF we do not get the weight in time ...quite a bit of the stuff in the bungalow starting from linen, crockery, cutlery and the mixer grinder too belonged to Parry Agro the tea company the husband worked for ....
Again Ajit told me his thing about people from the plains and how the gardener was from the plains ergo he pilfered ...and how a Hill Dweller would never steal .....
Finally I hit upon a brilliant idea...I told the gardener the amount that would have to be paid for a missing weight was the price of a new pressure cooker ...ergo ... I would leave the estate and the company would deduct the amount from the gardener's salary .... best solution I had hit upon !!! LOL ....
the gardener found the weight of the pressure cooker in the evening in the trash bin ....LAMO
however from that time onwards... I would Notice... how people from certain areas tend to be more honest .... Hill Dwellers and Islanders belong to this group ... :)
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