Dear Readers, I would request you to please read parts 1 and 2 of this series, if you have not already done so, to better understand the continuity of the story so far...
MAID IN INDIA - Part 3
A week had passed from the last time I wrote. Meanwhile, Geeta's husband Rajesh has joined my office. This first week, he was mostly on training on different areas of product knowledge, office operations and processes, selling skills and actual on-field sales exposures. He seems to have shown keen interest to learn and had been liked by all members of the existing team.
Geeta had been keeping a regular tab on him from me every evening she came to work. She was excited that her husband was showing regular progress at his job. She had been ever thankful to me for her husband's job.
Geeta was back in her normal vibrant self and talked incessantly all through the time she was was doing her cooking. She spoke about her family back home. It seemed, they came from a lower middle class farmers' family. Both her family and her husband's family are farmers. Geeta's father however did not own any land, but he had his own shop of daily needs, right in front of their hut. He used to work in the farm as a hired worker also, during harvesting season. Then her mother and the two sisters used to manage the shop.
Geeta spoke about her sister and her own marriage too. It seemed that she didn't like to study, whereas her elder sister was good at studies. Geeta studied till class 12 but did not pass the final examination, after which she left her studies. Her sister however had completed her graduation. But her education became a drawback for her marriage. On the one hand, she did not want to marry anybody who is less qualified than her. And on the other, in their community, the eligible boys hardly completed graduation, as they went into farming in their parental land from a very young age. On top of that, both Geeta and her sister were much taller than even average Indian men. That made their choice limited. As such, while no match could be found for her sister, Geeta was lucky enough to find Rajesh as her husband.
Unfortunately, their father passed away within one year of Geeta's marriage. Their family income drastically reduced; so all efforts to find a match for her sister ended there. However her sister found a job as a teacher in a local school. But the payout was paltry. Their mother looked after the shop, which also started dwindling for want of capital. Also with gradual development of the village, the standard of local shops improved. Thus in competition, their family shop can now hardly survive.
Geeta however had a successful marriage and the initial years in her in-laws house, which was in the neighbouring village, was quite satisfying. Her husband Rajesh worked in their parental land, along with his father and brother. Their income was enough to lead a normal, satisfying life. Everything was going fine till the dispute with Rajesh's uncle happened. It was regarding the boundary of both their properties. It went up to such a stage that the matter was taken to court. Due to an injunction and stay order, none of the parties could use their lands till the matter was resolved in court. As per Indian legal delays, the court dates kept prolonging. Since their income source got choked, Geeta and her husband came down to this city to look for job opportunities. Rajesh's father and brother work in others' fields on daily wage basis. So overall, both of Geeta's own and in-laws' families had fallen into hard times. The paltry income Rajesh could manage in the city till now was also inadequate to properly maintain Rajesh and Geeta's family with their 7 year old son. Now with Rajesh's new job in our company, they hope to make their ends meet from next month onwards.
Geeta has now decided that she will now regularly come on Sunday mornings too. On weekdays, she comes and cooks for the evening dinner and the next day's breakfast and lunch for me, which I heat in the microwave the next day. So, she says that at least on Sunday morning she will cook lunch fresh for me.
