The tougher side

To put the rest of the post in perspective - I should start with pictures of my home. No furniture yet but a christmas tree!

So one of the toughest things for me to deal with here in India is the poverty (the other is gender). This time around it's a tad more personal. I sat down on Friday to discuss terms of employment with my housekeeper and on Saturday went to her "servant quarters" at the back of the house to check them out and meet her son and mother who live with her. The quarters consist of a small room (size of one of the three of my bathrooms) and a bathroom. The three of them sleep on a mattress on the floor.

Her son is 7 and when I asked her if he was in school she said no, that since her husband left (or died, I'm not sure) she hasn't been able to afford it and started crying. So she spends the day cleaning my enormous house and dusting my closet full of shoes and cooking for me and doesn't have a way to cook for herself and her family. And she's paying a tutor $8 a month to work with her son for 2 hours every day.

Even more desparate are the folks without the small quarters. A lot of migrant workers here are in constuction and move around from building to building living in tents on the streets nearby. Since there's construction accross from the office, there's a new tent city. These are a few picts. Click on the one of workers for a bigger view - the men in skirts versus women in saris. I can barely walk comfortably in a sari - never mind heavy lifting!!

PS. The 144 days until the mall opens changed to 141 a few days ago. So far the count has reduced 3 days for every 30. At this rate the mall should open in 2010.