Smart Bai

No one has seen her. Still she gets all the work done. She is our domestic maid who helps us here at Pune. She has the key to our flat and comes to work while we are in our offices. When we want to get a job done, we write it on a piece of paper and leave it on the table. Smart Bai comes, reads it and gets the job done. When she wants us to buy a packet of detergent or wants to take a leave, she leaves a note for us. Whenever it is salary time, we keep the money on the table. She takes it and leaves behind an acknowledgement. In India, where literacy rates hover around the 65 % mark, and which I believe are government exaggerated figures, finding a literate maid is a difficult task. But not so in Pune. Most of the maids whom I have heard about in Pune can read and write. India Shinning.