July

 

July

 

Maids, cooks, dog walkers, gardeners and drivers

We were finally allowed all our helpers three weeks ago and I am blissfully happy. No more sweeping, mopping and cooking, ironing, gardening and no more moaning! 

Swapna has transformed our lives with her cooking. She can cook anything. I am removed from all cooking duties and relegated to reheating the lovely dishes that Swapna makes. The boys have spent most mealtimes joking that the food is definitely not mine as they can eat it!

Swapna and Grace turned up early on the first day ready to do a big clean and to make some meals. Grace gets here at 7:00 and starts her routine and the house is now much cleaner. When I mop it is all smeary, when she does it, it sparkles. She walks backwards and forwards more, emptying and refilling the heavy bucket whereas I can't be doing with all of that, hence her floor cleaning skills are much better.

Swapna had gone to her other house that she had worked for (on that first morning) but the people had said that her job was no longer there as they wanted a live in maid. The people had not paid her either in the lockdown, but she was quite stoical and got on with things. This meant that she could come at a similar time as Grace. They work together at the same time now.

This has worked really well for the past few weeks as it means that by 11:30 I can let Andy wander wherever he wants without worrying that he might slip through an open door or be a pest following Grace and Swapna around.

 Butter chicken ( Max tried some of the beer too )

 Apple pie

Mango cheese cake

 

 

The gardener came back and made a big effort on the first day, cutting the grass and sweeping but I’ve only seen him once more. No doubt he’ll turn up again to sweep the leaves. Although in the lockdown, I did wonder why we bother with him as there was no difference in the garden. Only the grass needs cutting every month or so and we have a mower that we can do it with. I think his days may be numbered….

Our dog walker, Mohammed or Andy’s bestie as he likes to be known, came back too. It was strange because in the lockdown Andy adapted well and didn’t look for Mohammed in the mornings. But now he’s back, Andy is up bright and early and looking out the window waiting for his pal, wagging his tail.

 

The Oven

 The oven decided to break down just as we got this wonderful woman who can cook anything that we ask her to.  The oven had been dodgy for a while. It is old and tired. The shelves inside are not secure so if a heavy dish of food is put on a shelf, it is touch and go whether the dish and the shelf will fall down. This has happened a few times and the food has spilt out. We also had to use a wooden spoon wedged into the drawers at the side and put it across the top of the oven door to keep the oven door tightly closed or the heat would escape through the gap and warm up the kitchen which is already hot  enough anyway.

 The day started off with what we thought was a power cut (which we have all the time, especially on a Saturday or Sunday when we can have guests over for dinner.) Swapna said, after a while, that the power was working elsewhere on the circuit. This was when the power came back on after I had been to the circuit breaker cupboard and fiddled with all the switches. But on one side of the kitchen nothing worked.

So, I sent a message on the app that we have to the community maintenance department as my electrical fixing skills were at their limit.

After a couple of hours, two electricians turned up with one screw driver each, (not bad, as they usually share one between two) and they set about finding out where the fault lie. All the appliances were unplugged and gradually turned on and when it was the turn of the oven, it blew the electrics out.

The electricians decided to pull out the oven as it is underneath the countertop. By this time, Swapna and Grace had left so there was just me to direct the electricians. They were busy poking their screwdrivers into the live sockets when the doorbell rang, so I went to answer it, pleased that I might not have to witness an electrocution. By the time I had come back (they were still both alive) but had snipped the wires from the back of the oven so that it was rendered unworkable.  I was secretly pleased because it looked like we needed a new one now. The oven was now stranded in the middle of the kitchen. With a shrug of their shoulders, the electricians said that was it and that we needed a new oven.

I persuaded them to put the oven back in the shell so that it was not in the middle of the kitchen, tripping everyone up. The gap the oven had left, had tiny bits of old food lying there and Andy was eagerly trying to lick every morsel he could, and he was in the way and obsessed with the gap.

The old oven with the bare wires protruding at the back  I  have just realised the electrician wasn't wearing his mask properly. He's wearing it as a chin strap.

 

Luckily, Swapna had made a curry we could microwave or cook on the gas hob so we were safe for dinner. On the previous days she had cooked so much food that we could supply the whole of Palm Meadows. All of that could be microwaved so we had a few days of food if we had to wait.

That night, we managed to measure and find an oven on Amazon. Andrew contacted our landlord who said to go ahead and order one. It came in a couple of days.

We needed a new socket to be fitted so I contacted the electricians again. On the day the oven was due to arrive, they turned up, removed the oven outside the front door (thank you very much) and fixed the socket ready.

But nothing is ever simple in India.

The new oven was delivered later in the day and the delivery driver left it outside (they don’t bring it inside, it’s not their job) so now we had two ovens blocking the doorway outside, one old and one new.

The electricians came back but they said they don’t carry the oven inside (it’s not their job) so I had an oven, a new socket but no way of getting the oven inside for the electricians to connect it up unless they decided that it was their job. It wasn't, so they went off again.

Andrew came home and he brought the oven in. (I’m pleased he decided that it was on his job list.) We unpacked it from its' box but then realised that the oven wouldn’t fit in the space with a plug attached. The socket needed removing again.

So, the electricians had to come yet again, (only one screwdriver now)

This took us to Friday and Swapna had a long list of cooking that she needed to do in order to get everything ready the weekend.

After much deliberation the oven was in place and switched on. The electricians were triumphant and pleased that they had connected the oven. Yay!

Swapna then spent the next five hours cooking every dish she could manage ready for the weekend. I had to stop her at the five-hour mark as she wanted to bake biscuits and cakes and we already had more than enough food.  It was like she was in a frenzy and cooking everything that popped into her mind. She loves cooking.

 The new oven installed and actually working.

 

 

Milo has just told us that his water heater is not working tonight so it looks like we (I’ve) got to go through it all again with the electricians…

 

Tree Planting at Micronclean

 

One of the doctors that has been working closely with Micronclean was pleased to be asked to plant a tree in his honour. This meant that we got to have a trip out to the factory (even though there was still a lockdown, of sorts)

The doctor in question loves the James Herriot books so Andrew bought the book that James Herriot's son had written. The doctor was really pleased with it.

This was only the second trip out of Palm Meadows in 8 weeks for Max and I, and the first for Milo, so we were excited and thrilled to be going somewhere. The trip to the factory means going on the motorway but it is a scenic route through the countryside. It is an enjoyable journey of about an hour.

When Milo goes to the factory, he truly believes that he is in charge and was so excited to sit next to Andrew as Andrew gave a speech to all the staff and to the doctor. Milo was nodding at the right moments and looked like he understood everything. Max is doing a photography course for a school project and he was taking as many photographs as he could.

We went outside for the tree planting and it was all rather pleasant. We had some photos taken and then had the wonderful coffee that one of the ladies makes.

The plants and grass around the factory are growing well.

 Milo helping.

Andrew was recorded talking about Micronclean and what they do. The doctor was interviewed too on camera.

Dr  Pandu is in the middle

Milo in the main chair.

Most of the current staff.

 (That lamp post needs to go !)

 Dr Pandu and his tree.

The Coles always have to have a picnic!

 I haven't found out why yet but when there's a presentation to someone they always have a shawl put on them as they receive their flowers. They keep it on for a few minutes then take it off.

 The blue band  I am wearing has a chip in it so that we could get into certain parts of the factory.

 The photographer wanted to take photos of us when everyone had left.

 

 

 

 The Orphanage.

 

After the success of giving food packages to people in the surrounding villages, Andrew went to visit a local residential home for orphans, children and adults who are physically and mentally challenged. Andrew took more food packages and had a look round. Apparently, the home is run purely from donations and these are hard to come by.

Andrew is going to go back when the lockdown is finally over to see if there is a way of helping them. Meanwhile, we will we see what we can do. The boys are raiding their books shelves, cupboards and old toy boxes. 

 

 

 

Lockdown

 We still have a night time curfew and the weekend curfew was lifted last Saturday. Food shops and essential services are allowed open until 9pm and restaurants are allowed open until 9pm too. There is a curfew at 9pm (although food deliveries are allowed 24/7)

We are waiting to see what will happen next week but the cases have dropped dramatically.

The vaccination drive is going well, and the hospitals are reporting that they are coping. The government is reminding everyone to be on their guard to prevent a third wave.

 We were a bit shocked to discover that our Covishield vaccines are not recognised in the EU even though they are produced from the same place as AstraZeneca. It is just called Covishield here. Apparently, it is supposed to be sorted soon. Fingers crossed or we will never be allowed in to Europe again. Although, as long as we can get to the Maldives, then that is fine! 

 The papers are saying that the hospitals are getting ready in case the third wave targets children. There are differences in opinion from doctors as to whether this will happen.

Meanwhile, there is more debate now about the need for children to go back to school. It has been well over a year since most children entered the school gates (March 2020).  We are waiting to see what happens next with everything.

 ADDA

This the app  that we use to communicate in the Palm Meadows community. It is useful especially if there is a snake sighting (two last week, one cobra and one viper and our friends had a snake on their upstairs window ledge!)) or something that needs to be discussed.

The cobra caught last week two lanes down .

 

Last week we had a terrible incidence where a dog slipped his lead and attacked one of the gentler dogs who was walking on his lead with his owner. The poor dog needed 13 stitches in his ear.

The injured dog owner posted the sequence of events and what had happened. The committee had to get involved to ask the other owners to pay for the treatment and to keep their dog muzzled when he is out (as they claimed they could do nothing about what had happened.) Apparently, the dog is from a farm and so is not a calm dog, appearing aggressive and obviously liable to attack if he gets loose.

 All seemed to be sorted but then various people started to give their opinions. One person suggested that all dogs be banned from walking inside the complex, (joggers too) and that dogs should be walked outside of Palm Meadows and not in the lanes here. I could envision all the sensible people rolling their eyes at this suggestion. It would be extremely difficult, as you would have to walk your dog through the lanes of Palm Meadows to get outside so that would defeat the object. The messages started to go back and forth (dog lovers versus dog haters). It can get quite personal and some of the comments are rude -and stupid!

The topics can go on for days. Most people do post sensible solutions and opinions but some suggestions can make you laugh out loud at their ridiculous nature.

It does provide entertainment though.

The Weather

It is monsoon season and last month we had quite a bit of rain in the afternoons and it was cooler with a strong breeze.  In the past couple of weeks it has been so hot and sticky and there has been little rain. We have had to put the air conditioning on at night again so that we can sleep comfortably. But it made me think how lucky we are that we have the air conditioning, sometimes the fans are not enough.

Weekend away 

We managed to go away for the weekend just gone.  It was close to the factory again. We stopped at a small farm that had a swimming pool and only two guest rooms.  The chap has spent a year building it and we were the first guests.

 There were two beautiful Macaws in a huge cage. They spent a lot of time saying "hello".

Andy and the bigger boys.

 There were no mosquitoes so we sat outside and watched a film

 This was actually on a small hill that we walked up to watch the sunset.

 Andy went off his lead for the first time.

 He also dug his first hole and he laid down in  it and then his friends copied.

 The pool and the setting were beautiful.  

Milo and I spent most of our time in the pool. It had warm water and was quite large. The weather was very warm and calm.  We went on a few walks and we let Andy off his lead for the first time. He was such a good boy. We went with some friends to the farm and Andy just follows their dogs (they are bigger boys) He had such a good run around and came back whenever he was called. As there was a lockdown /curfew for the weekend it meant we had to get there because 7pm on Friday night. We stopped for three nights, coming back on Monday morning when the curfew was lifted. For one twenty minute window I wondered how it would be to be build a place like this farm with a swimming pool. Then as we all talked about it, the rules of India, the paperwork, the fact that we are "foreign", we decided it would never happen.

We just have to hope they open the swimming pools soon!  

 

June 2021

 

June

Andrew's birthday

The birthday boy was a bit limited on his cake and present this year. My previous attempts at cake baking have always ended in failure so I didn't try at all this year. Instead we ordered from the local restaurant and had a meal and a cake delivered. The icing lady 'Bikini clad Booberella' has lasted since his last birthday as she has been sitting sadly at the back of the fridge. We were seeing what would happen (like a science experiment) 
 

The Lockdown

I don’t know which lockdown number we are on any more, or what day or date it is! Each time we think the lockdown is going to end, we get all excited and then two days before they extend it. We are currently waiting to see if the lockdown will end on Monday (it’s Friday now)

 It was very exciting today as Max had an emergency appointment at the dentist for a brace fitting and we got to out for half an hour. The traffic was so quiet and, of course, all the shops were shut but it was a change from Palm Meadows

 Our boy looking angelic.

 

Before the lockdown, we had got a new maid, Grace, on trial, and she was working part time for us before the lockdown. I happened to mention that I might consider employing someone to cook for us part time too. Grace had a good friend, who is a cook, called Swapna and that she said that she needed more hours. Swapna is quite famous here for cooking in Palm Meadows so I rang her to see if she had any spare hours. She said she would come for a trial.

But then, there was the warning that we would be having a lockdown. Swapna arrived with Grace on the day before lockdown and explained that she and Grace had become good friends when they worked next door to each other last year.

I had in my mind that one lady would clean in the morning and the other come and cook in the afternoon, but they had a better idea.

This is what they suggested; Grace would come (at 7:30 am) and clean when Swapna goes to her other part time job. Grace would leave at 10:30 am to go to do her other house and then will Swapna arrive. If Grace has not finished something then Swapna will finish off and then sort the cooking out, finishing off by 1:30 pm.

So, we agreed to a trial. Swapna, on arrival, promptly searched through all the cupboards and then set about cooking. I think she was rather shocked at our lack of cooking pots and dishes.

Oh, my goodness me!  The woman is a magician. She managed to make enough meals to last us a week. Moussaka, garlic bread, breaded chicken, chicken masala, banana muffins, glazed carrots. I was so impressed. She seemed to cook with ease and everything was so good.

Both promised that they would come back after the lockdown which was originally for a month (I think)

No maids, drivers or gardeners are allowed in the community as the gates are closed and only deliveries are allowed. Andrew has to drive the car to the gate to meet Arjun as he is not allowed in either.

The lockdown, initially, was much the same as last year, we could order lots of shopping online and everything was quick and efficient.

This time Andrew went to work at the factory though, as it is considered an essential service.

Max and Milo carried working online and I started cleaning and mopping again. We could still go out for a walk around the community, and it was not too bad.

 But then, outside the walls of Palm Meadows, the Covid cases started to explode. People could not get beds in the hospitals and then the demand for oxygen started to get desperate too.

Cases started to creep into Palm Meadows, and we were warned that if the cases continued to rise then we would become a containment. (This is where you are not allowed out of your house, more restrictions are imposed, and government officials come to check on the residents)

Luckily, after a few weeks things have settled down, the numbers in Bangalore have gone down and the hospital situation seems to have improved.

Vaccinations were a problem in many districts but here in Palm Meadows, the community committee has been very organised and has had several vaccination camps. Maids, drivers, and gardeners etc were vaccinated last week if they wanted to get the vaccine. This has been very positive.

We are waiting to see if the vaccine for children gets implemented. They are running trials and are about to pass Pfizer here too.

We await the news about what will happen on Monday. Swimming in the pool looks a long way off ….

 

Andrew, Micronclean and food parcels.

Andrew drives through the countryside and a few villages when he leaves the motorway on his way to work. At one point, all the shops and market stalls were closed, and this got him thinking. If you have no fridge and little money, then how do poorer people manage to buy or even store food. Usually, people buy food daily, as they are paid daily, and then buy their food fresh.

He asked the staff if there were many people who had problems locally with the lockdown or just generally and was there a way to help? A lot of the staff live in nearby villages and many of them knew of people, especially elderly people, who were really finding things really hard.

A list of people was drawn up with names, age and reasons why they needed help. Someone investigated how much a food package would cost.  

A crowd funding page was set up and money was raised very quickly both here and at Micronclean in the UK. Some very generous donations from colleagues, friends and family took the funds to around £1400 

Andrew said it was very humbling to give out the food packages as the people were polite, smiling and very grateful.

In the beginning, Andrew went to hand out the packages but then the lockdown rules changed and the people had to come to the factory. Luckily, the staff arranged transport for the people or they got friends to bring them to the factory.

At around £11 a pack we were able to purchase over a hundred food packs. The contents of staple foods included rice, flour, sugar oil lentils so enough to keep a small family basically fed for two to three weeks. The team have just identified that there is an orphanage close by that needs some support, so Andrew is going to see if they need any help too with the remaining food packs.

Meanwhile, the food packages are still being handed out.

 

 

Cleaning

(not as serious or as important as the predicament in the paragraph above)

Cleaning is a repetitive chore, monotonous and boring and I’m trying to find ways around it, so I don’t have to do it, as it is difficult when it is so hot. I tried leaving the vacuuming and mopping of the floors for a couple of days but that just makes it harder as everything has more dirt and then takes twice as long. I am down to every other day. To make things easier I took up the rugs all apart from the one which is under the coffee table. This cut down on vacuuming.

Then, the other day, after Andy had eaten his dinner (this is the dog not the husband), he was suddenly violently sick all over the one and only rug. We have a big floor space of marble/granite that can easily be cleaned but, no, he was sick on the rug!

 We now have no rugs that can be dirtied.

 The good thing with all the cleaning and mopping, is that I am up to at least 14,000 steps a day as I do this.

Added to this, Andrew has also treated me to a larger luxury paddling pool so I can cool off afterwards. Although, that is now another thing that needs cleaning.

  The new luxury "pool"

Cooking for each other

We have a group of friends that we see frequently (in unlockdown periods). All of us were fed up with the mundane culinary offerings of lockdown food, so we decided that it would be a good idea to take it in turns cooking for each other, The range of French, Czech/German, English (or in our case Anglo-Italian) was a welcome change. Sadly, one of our group left India last night, so we had to squeeze all of the cookathon activities in before they left.

It was good fun and meant we could have a night off from cooking.

Sheetal cooked for the Shussis. They had a lamb                                                     dish and salad.

 We had French beef and carrots, salad and mashed potatoes. The recipe was from Aurelie's mum. It was lovely. Margot made homemade mango ice cream and meringues. ( I thought she had bought the meringues, they were so good )

So Aurelie, David, Margot and Gaspard had food cooked from the Shussis. I think it was a German meal.

I cooked for the Fenouil's . They had lasagne, garlic bread and coleslaw. They had mars bar cakes for a sweet.

Monsoon

The monsoon is here, and it was quite cool last night (23 degrees) when we went for a walk. It was a relief to not be so hot. Usually, it is about 29 degrees when we go for a walk (about 9 pm) so we managed to go a bit further with Andy. It is still hot in the day (today it is 29 degrees but there is more cloud. It rains about 4 pm (not every day) but it is refreshing to go for a walk when it rains and Andy loves it.

 

The Pool table

 This time of the year is quite sad as lots of people finish their contracts and move back to their native countries. This means that there are lots of house sales as people try to squash all the things that they have bought in India into their container. All sorts of things are put up for sale. TVs, beds, fans, kitchen utensils, especially items with Indian plugs but not everything is taken back home.

We managed to buy a few things but our most exciting purchase (well, we donated the money to the OWC charity because that was the request) was a full-size pool table.

We had to wait because of the lockdown restrictions, but as the people who owned it were leaving, it meant we had to get it out of their house before the next tenants were due.

We got special permission and Andrew arranged for a man with a van and a specialist from a pool table company to come and disassemble it, put it in the van and reassemble it in our house. 

It took quite a while, but I’m pleased that we didn’t try to do it because it had to be built back up again and be perfectly level and everything had to be just so. Apparently it was so heavy and has three big slate bed slabs. 

We have been having “Championship of the World” competitions all week between the Cole family.

Competition is intense and we need to check on the rules as I’m sure we have got some things wrong, but it is rather exciting to have something else to do, especially as the mosquitoes are getting worse outside in the evenings and the rains have started.  

 Milo playing pool

Mosquitoes

 The mosquitoes seem to be increasing and buzz en mass and it is very annoying. The Palm Meadows committee have put forward a new spraying/control system. Until that works, we have invented a net solution on the terrace. It took a bit of trial and error, but we have a good mosquito blocking net. We have fixed one of the nets that goes over the double bed to the windows behind the sofa on the terrace. We have tied some elastic on the other side of the net. Each night, if we want to sit outside, we pull the elastic tight and attach two sides to two nails on the pillars. This creates a net tent that goes over the sofa. It is a bit of a faff getting in and out but once inside the mosquitoes just buzz around outside unable to get in. It means we can still sit outside and not be bitten. Andy is a pest, though, because he just does not understand how to get in and out but it’s a minor problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 End of April ...

Everything has gone pear shaped ! 

There is a reason why Andrew has treated me to a special mop, I have been the chief cook, cleaner and bottle washer for the past couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, we had to let Mala go. It’s quite a long and complicated story.

 I think that a brief explanation of Indian mindset is needed for this. This mindset is not the same with all Indian people. Nearly everyone we meet here are kind, considerate and their family and work ethic are just the same as in Europe.

But maids (not all, obviously) seem to operate on a different level. They appear to have dramatic and tragic lives. Each one has a desperately sad story to tell and their lives seem to be like a soap opera . 

There is a lot of family pressure to hand over any money that they earn to support the whole family. They have other pressures too such as helping to pay for weddings, funerals and any festival party that occurs. If someone gets married then your contribution is written down so that when a close member of your family marries then this family will contribute the same or more back again. What tends to happen is that there are many family arguments over money. It is like a vicious circle of money lending and borrowing all of the time. Also, large sums of money are borrowed and there is no chance of the amount being paid back. So, if a maid borrows £2000 and they earn £200 a month then it takes a long time to pay back as they still have the family to support. As all the family argues, it can spill into their daily life and affects their work.

This is what happened with Mala. She had frequently asked us for money over the years but we had always said no. Mainly because if Andrew lends money to one person, he’s got a whole factory full of people. Why should one employee be any different because they are in your house?

Just before Christmas, Mala had been living with us because of the COVID situation and she was worried about the bus ride and that was fair enough. But we started to get fed up of listening to the drama of her family life. She used to shout so loud that we couldn’t hear the TV. She would cry loudly and sob her heart out. I asked her if everything was ok and she said it was ok. It was really just like being in Eastenders but that it would go on for hours (except we were a reluctant audience.) 

As Mala was spending so much time shouting on the phone, her work started to tail off as she kept stopping to answer the phone and go off to continue her drama in the maid’s room.

 We decided to take action mainly because we didn’t want to hear Mala shouting so angrily in front of the boys. We always have all the windows open due to the heat so you can’t help but hear everything if it is loud. Max and Milo are not used to arguments as Andrew just does as he is told (!) 

We asked her to move back home. She really did not like this and said she would move out in a month. We said two weeks as a comprise. I got Arjun to have a word about all the shouting and that she needed to do the work that I asked her to. We told her if she was going to argue, with whoever it was, she must go out of the house and down to the bench at the end of the road but that she would have to make up the time. She must not answer her phone while she is working too. 

I drew up a list of her jobs in a chart that had photos on and we went over it so everything was clear. 

Mala moved out but only after I had reminded her twice. She claimed that she couldn’t live on her own. I pointed out that she was nearly forty and that she usually went to stop with her sister at the weekends anyway.

Unfortunately, at the end of January, Andrew had to have stern words with her as she asked me for money and when I said I didn’t have any, she told me that I could go to the bank to get some and that she would wait! This was two days after she had been paid. 

Meanwhile, I was keeping an eye on what she was really doing which included sitting in the maid’s room when she thought I was upstairs. I realised that if I went into the kitchen making a noise she would appear with a cloth in her hand and look busy. If I stood silently, she would remain in the room thinking I was upstairs ( please be reassured that I am not a stalking lunatic but wanted someone to do the job that they were getting paid for) One day, I waited 20 minutes ( I could hear her talking as loud as she dare ) I rattled a drawer and she appeared. I told her that she had been gone for 20 minutes to which she said “ then you should call me”! I was furious. She was supposed to be cleaning. 

So, I spoke to her again and we went over the jobs list. Remember I used to teach four year olds so I’m quite good at simple clear explanations. 

She did all the jobs for about a week and then I noticed she was disappearing again. One morning, as Andrew was leaving for work, he squashed an ant on the tiles as he went out of the kitchen. It is in a prominent place. I went to see him off, went upstairs and forgot all about it. Milo needed help with his school work so I came back downstairs about two hours later. Mala had not wiped the ant away. So I thought, I’ll leave it there and see what happens ( it was torture, I don’t like dirty marks anywhere) . Usually, if I see a mark I’ll wipe it away and Andrew does that too. At the end of the day, I went to see if Mala had wiped the wall but she had left early ( without asking) and the ant was still there.

I still didn’t wipe it off. Andrew came home and noticed it straight away. You really couldn’t miss it. So we left it and I resisted my usual obsessive wipe down of all the kitchen cupboards and door handles. We realised after a couple of days that I had been cleaning the kitchen all along and Mala wasn’t doing it as the dirty marks got worse and worse. They were on the handles, dishwasher buttons, washing machine, all over. It looked like a toddler had gone around. We had been blaming Milo for all the dirty marks, poor boy,

 We knew the marks on the dishwasher did not belong to Max and Milo as they never touch it believing that the draining board is the dishwasher or the desks in their bedrooms. I also realised that this meant that Mala was not washing her hands.

My next plan of action was to indicate sternly that she needed to clean the dirty marks and I pointed to the dishwasher as an example. But guess what ? That was the only thing she cleaned! The ant was still on the wall and all the other marks when she left ( again early and not having asked because I would have followed her as she wiped all the marks off ) 

Things were getting serious, I just don’t know how anyone could ignore such dirty, disgusting marks. It was now Friday and we decided that we would both talk to her the next day to give her a final warning. 

Saturday morning came and we had resisted cleaning. She rang up to say that she wasn’t coming in because she couldn’t get a Tuk Tuk. She would come on Monday - maybe -or Tuesday or Wednesday. I was so mad I was bouncing around like a ping pong ball! 

We had people coming for dinner so now my plan to not clean all the dirty marks backfired because I had to clean it all anyway. Andrew set off with vacuum cleaner and we got the house clean between us and then prepared the food for the evening. I like cleaning but not when I ‘m supposed to be paying someone else to do it. 

More or less at the same moment as we had been cleaning. we both decided that enough was enough and that we would tell Mala that we would pay her until the end of the month and that she needn’t come on Monday. This meant she had three weeks to give herself the opportunity to find a job. We would pay her money when she gave her key back.

I composed a message and sent it. I also sent it to her sister who speaks and reads English. I sent it to Arjun and got him to phone to explain. (I tried to phone first though but Mala can not understand English on the phone but she didn’t answer the phone anyway.) 

I felt a sense of relief. 

I told our friends what had happened that evening and decided that we had done the right thing. One of the ladies said, “you need to take Mala off the gate permission” ( all workers in Palm Meadows have to have a gate pass and each time they come in in the morning and leave you get a notification to tell you that they are on the way or have left. This is how I knew that Mala was leaving early if I had gone out ) The lady  also explained that if you terminate the contract for a maid you don’t let them back to work out their notice because that is when they can steal things ( but not Mala, I thought ) 

I spent the rest of weekend cleaning happily to get things back to how I like things clean. I had a great time. I tried ringing Mala again but she didn’t answer  ( understandable ) 

On Monday morning, as Andrew set off for work with Arjun, he spotted Mala walking in Palm Meadows. So he stopped at the gate to ask how she had managed to get in. The guards reported that she had said she was going to the office( a lie ) Andrew was suspicious and explained what had happened. The guard said he would catch up with her and sort it all out. 

Meanwhile, I had packed all of Mala’s things ready for Arjun to take in the evening. When I had done this I locked the front door and went upstairs to have my coffee on the terrace.

Imagine my surprise when I had finished it and came through the upstairs door to find that Mala had let herself in with her key and was standing at the top of the stairs. It was like something out of a creepy horror movie.

 I let out a small scream as I wasn’t expecting her to be there. She said she had come to give the key back and to ask for her job back. I lead her downstairs and explained that we had given her so many chances but that we need the house to be clean. 

She then started to cry and would not let go of me. Annoyingly, I had left my phone in some obscure place as usual. It was on the work top in the front room so I edged towards it, put the key down and picked up the phone to send Andrew a message. Mala admitted that she had not been doing her job but that she wasn’t going to leave and that I couldn’t make her. Unless I physically grabbed her and threw her out  then this was true.i wouldn’t fancy my chances as she’s much stronger than it am ) I edged towards the door and she followed me. I managed to open it but she ran forwards and slammed it on my hand. That wasn’t a good move as I told her really sternly that she needed to stop this behaviour and now she had to leave or I would call security. 

Meanwhile, Andrew had phoned Max to help me if things got out of hand. Andrew  called security anyway. They arrived very quickly and I went outside to speak to them. At this point, Mala ran swiftly to the back room to pack her things ( already packed) I asked the lady guard to come with me while the two men stayed outside. Mala protested but the lady was very firm. I explained  the guards what had happened and they told Mala that she had to leave with them. She said she would wait for a Tuk Tuk . They said she  could have a Tuk Tuk but at the gate, not here. 

I said goodbye to Mala and that I was sorry it had all gone so wrong. One of the guards stayed with me to get some details down. I went back in and rang Andrew.

 I went back to doing house things. Andrew sent me a message asking about the key. I said I’ve got it but then I realised it wasn’t where I had put it. I searched everywhere. It had gone.

I sent a message on the emergency message system to the guard room to say to check for the key . I thought I must be mistaken. 

But I couldn’t find the key anywhere.

My friend Sindhu came round after I sent her a message to say what had happened. Sindhu’s from Bangalore and explained what can happen when a maid works for you for a while. There is a saying that some people ( not all remember ) are “work thieves” . They start off well meaning and working hard but then become manipulative and do as little as they can get away with. Sindhu advised me that we would need to get a new lock fitted. She knows the people over the road who are close friends so she went to have a word with them. She pointed out that Mala knew our routine and would know when the house was empty. Sindhu wanted them to keep an eye on our house.

So, this is where being an expat means being slightly wet behind the ears as I think we become too trusting. 

Shortly after Sindhu had left, one of the guards turned up. He had found the key. We think Mala had snatched it when she had dashed back into the house. She had tucked it deep into one of her bags.

I know it was hard on her losing her job, she had been warned so many times and I think we were too lenient but to lie to the guards at the gate to get in, to come into the house which was locked without permission and to accost me, to refuse to leave and then to steal the key, was not good and it was an awful end to her working for us. 

I thought afterwards that if I had been elderly or vulnerable , it would have been an intimidating situation. 

The next week I spent cleaning and cooking. It didn’t take me too long but by the second week I decided that having to sweep, vacuum and mop every day was too much as well as seeing to the boys online, washing and ironing etc. I know that I sound like a princess and that most of you do this too but here in Bangalore, the heat and lack of rain means that everything is super dusty. There is also a lot of construction in the area and this creates even more dust. Each day there is a thick layer that has to be cleaned away or you breathe it in. The mosquito nets collect this dust too and they need cleaning frequently. The dust settles on the furniture inside and on everything. You have to clean in a sequence to get rid of it all.

I managed to find a maid that wanted part time work. She works part time with one of our friends. She started two days ago and is on a  month’s trial. She noticed straight away that the nets were dirty and I caught her putting gel on her hands before she came in the house and then she went to wash her hands as she came in. She worked methodically through the house and Max was super impressed with his room when she had finished 

Her name is Grace. We will see how the next month goes and whether it works for us, and for her, but so far so good. 

Covid 

We are currently on a weekend lockdown to see if it can curb the situation at the moment which is quite worrying. The cases in India have exploded. Last year India was brutal in their lockdown but it appeared to work. The numbers are rapidly increasing. We are being advised to try and stay in when the lockdown is lifted and there is also a night curfew in place. We do wonder whether there maybe a full lockdown on Monday although the local government says it won’t do that because the economy can’t cope. When we had been out in the past few weeks, it was noticeable how many people were not wearing masks and had become complacent. The Karnatakan government have said it is up to people to be responsible for their own actions but it clearly isn’t working as the numbers are rising so quickly.. In some cities there are problems with bed shortages and lack of oxygen. The problem is that you just don’t really know what is the truth and what is rumour so it’s hard to judge. There are quite a few cases here in our community but the rules are very tight about quarantine and self isolation. 

Andrew and I have both had our second vaccination jab. We got a notice to ask us to have the second one earlier than the government was saying. They were saying that there was a wait of 6-8 weeks but the. They decided to go back to 4 weeks. We have certificates to say we have had both of them. Palm Meadows managed  to get one of the local hospitals organised a vaccination drive here in Palm meadows which was well attended so that was good. The MC also organise testing camps regularly. 

It s the beginning  of the mango season. It is very exciting .

We went to the Conrad hotel for lunch one day. 

Second vaccination.