A recent Twitter outrage over caste and Hygiene has literally dragged me into writting a blog after ages.. ( yes too Twitter to read offlate you see). The post in question spoke how not letting the bath room cleaner cook food is a "matter of Hygiene & not Caste".
To an extend she is right.. Hygiene has absolutely nothing to do with caste or class or as a matter of fact upbringing. The conversations, arguments and humour takes me back a few decades to my Father's ancestral home. An old, sprawling house with a strict vegetarian Brahmin family. At the side of the house were a few "Kothris" as they were called. Mostly occupied by househelp's and some tenants. During my summer trips I have memories of this young widow of a "lower caste" living in one of them with her 2 children.( Let me explain that her caste is very important disclosure before I am labelled casteist). Kamala Bai as she was called helped our extended household with various tasks ( not cleaning the toilets though ). I have vivid memories of her in her neatly pleated dull colored old saris and a well oiled bun to keep her hair in place. My mother often remarked how neat and organised she was despite her poor financial state and not to miss the caste. Her Kids went to school & wore old clothes that were washed clean, ironed and repaired when the need arose. Such was her aura that she looked graceful even in those hard impoverished times. However this gave me & my sister a lot of agony as my Mom would give her example every time she found our room and clothes in a mess. To be honest we were quite tired of her example. As years passed the frequent trips became infrequent and she faded away from my memory.
On Entering my College for admissions I remember feeling a bit awkward as everyone seemed to have come straight from a photo shoot. Given the fact it was a fashion college in a Delhi, the small townie in me was intimidated. Women with peachy complexions and manicured nails wasn't something that nerdy me was used to. Soon enough some of them became my hostel mates. To my greatest amazement these gorgeous women had a cupboard full of .. well !! Dirty laundry if I must say it politely. Most of them woke up late just in time to wash faces, apply makeup and dash. Leaving behind a trail of perfume and unwashed laundry. The rooms had a permanent stink of Cigarette smoke, perfumes and well "the laundry". I have seen the horror of poly bags full of used sanitary napkins that they found no time to throw. Most of them actually came from high class well to do backgrounds. But somehow the bathrooms would always have a bucket of someone's clothes that they "soaked meaning to wash but conveniently forgot". The stink arising from cloth rotting in detergent is not very hygienic you see. Perhaps I should thank those well manicured women for having taught me to clean the bathroom before I could bathe. They shall find a mention in my oscar speech.
Fast forwarding a few years to my first Job in Mumbai and the sea facing flat I entered as a PG. The Old Goan Couple had a love for cleanliness ( well almost) and their old time stories( along with antique China) . Being a junior entrant to the house I got the room facing a high rise and not the ocean. The house had an assortment of women all well read, well healed and working. In my first few weeks I was quite enamoured by a smart advertising executive/copywriter living in the sea face room. She spent more time on her makeup than all of us put together. Spoke English in a clipped accent and could tell her "Keats from Shelly". She also spoke highly of her Calcutta university and its hall of fame graduates. And Boy in that pre Internet Era she even knew her share of sauces and gourmet cooking. Everyone in the house raved about her "Machch". Understandably "The House" and its occupants loved their fish and hence a permanent smell in the kitchen and even the utensils. Aunt Bella as she was fondly called had been a good cook and had spent her lifetime cooking for her 6 children none of whom now stayed with them . Now with failing eyesight and increasing blood sugar she had no one but the Tribal maid from Chattisgarh to do the cooking. Such was the grime and stink in those utensils that I opted for a "Dabba" on the pretext that I was a Vegetarian and they may not be able to cook for me. Hygiene definitely had taken a back seat with passing age and the "scarcity of maids" as Aunty liked to put.
Just around the time I was in awe of our Miss Know It All, I got the most amazing offer. That was to shift into the sea face room. To my amazement the young Lawyer with an Army background wanted to swap places with me. What better luck you see so I grab the opportunity only to realise her reason for shift in a few days. Our Miss know it all turned out to be no different from my ex hostel mates. In fact to my horror she was unabashedly unapologetic about it. She considered being organised and neat as a sign of wasted life and energy. Her dirty laundry and the equally dirty habits however never made her " Machch" any less Hygienic or delectable to anyone. So what if she didn't clean the toilets and prefered applying makeup and perfume to personal Hygiene. She looked and sounded Intelligent upper class enough to be Considered "Hygienic". Call me a casteist but I shall think twice before she wishes to enter my kitchen and cook.
On Entering my College for admissions I remember feeling a bit awkward as everyone seemed to have come straight from a photo shoot. Given the fact it was a fashion college in a Delhi, the small townie in me was intimidated. Women with peachy complexions and manicured nails wasn't something that nerdy me was used to. Soon enough some of them became my hostel mates. To my greatest amazement these gorgeous women had a cupboard full of .. well !! Dirty laundry if I must say it politely. Most of them woke up late just in time to wash faces, apply makeup and dash. Leaving behind a trail of perfume and unwashed laundry. The rooms had a permanent stink of Cigarette smoke, perfumes and well "the laundry". I have seen the horror of poly bags full of used sanitary napkins that they found no time to throw. Most of them actually came from high class well to do backgrounds. But somehow the bathrooms would always have a bucket of someone's clothes that they "soaked meaning to wash but conveniently forgot". The stink arising from cloth rotting in detergent is not very hygienic you see. Perhaps I should thank those well manicured women for having taught me to clean the bathroom before I could bathe. They shall find a mention in my oscar speech.
Fast forwarding a few years to my first Job in Mumbai and the sea facing flat I entered as a PG. The Old Goan Couple had a love for cleanliness ( well almost) and their old time stories( along with antique China) . Being a junior entrant to the house I got the room facing a high rise and not the ocean. The house had an assortment of women all well read, well healed and working. In my first few weeks I was quite enamoured by a smart advertising executive/copywriter living in the sea face room. She spent more time on her makeup than all of us put together. Spoke English in a clipped accent and could tell her "Keats from Shelly". She also spoke highly of her Calcutta university and its hall of fame graduates. And Boy in that pre Internet Era she even knew her share of sauces and gourmet cooking. Everyone in the house raved about her "Machch". Understandably "The House" and its occupants loved their fish and hence a permanent smell in the kitchen and even the utensils. Aunt Bella as she was fondly called had been a good cook and had spent her lifetime cooking for her 6 children none of whom now stayed with them . Now with failing eyesight and increasing blood sugar she had no one but the Tribal maid from Chattisgarh to do the cooking. Such was the grime and stink in those utensils that I opted for a "Dabba" on the pretext that I was a Vegetarian and they may not be able to cook for me. Hygiene definitely had taken a back seat with passing age and the "scarcity of maids" as Aunty liked to put.
Just around the time I was in awe of our Miss Know It All, I got the most amazing offer. That was to shift into the sea face room. To my amazement the young Lawyer with an Army background wanted to swap places with me. What better luck you see so I grab the opportunity only to realise her reason for shift in a few days. Our Miss know it all turned out to be no different from my ex hostel mates. In fact to my horror she was unabashedly unapologetic about it. She considered being organised and neat as a sign of wasted life and energy. Her dirty laundry and the equally dirty habits however never made her " Machch" any less Hygienic or delectable to anyone. So what if she didn't clean the toilets and prefered applying makeup and perfume to personal Hygiene. She looked and sounded Intelligent upper class enough to be Considered "Hygienic". Call me a casteist but I shall think twice before she wishes to enter my kitchen and cook.
