17 - 2nd - The cleaning lady

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Jan'08

She is the lady whom I have been seeing for the past 5 months now. She is from the house-keeping section of the hotel and comes to clean my room daily. Most of the days, I don't meet her, because I leave my room early for work. Today, being down with fever, I took off from work and so I got to see her after a week or so.

She always has a sweet smile on her face and is very very humble. She doesn't know even a word of English, so when she has to convey something to me, she writes it on a piece of paper and I translate it using Google. Compared to other rooms, my room always has some extra work, because of all the cooking I do inside the room. But I have never seen her complaining or frowning for anything. She does her job to utter perfection.

Now, the reason for which I like her the most. From the day I saw her, I developed a sense of attachment and respect for her. She is such a 'motherly' figure, and love and affection just flows along with her words. Sometimes, I feel really bad when I see her doing all this work. Somehow, I dont like giving money to her, because by doing that I feel like insulting her, like giving money to my mother for doing something for me. But I know, that is the only way I can show my appreciation and that is the only way she will feel happy too.

I asked her for a photograph today, and she readily agreed. Her face actually reminds me of my grandmother; and I told this thing to her after I took her photo. After five minutes she knocked my door, handed me a note and then left. I translated that and here's what it said :-

"I know you miss your family, so far away from your home. Tell your mother that I will take good care of you."

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