Broken.

“If you know anyone who needs a cook, let me know.” my cook announced. She’s a woman in her early 30s from Uttar Pradesh. She has two daughters. The husband has vanished.

I looked at her and nodded. She launched into a list of all the things she could do.

Mudrika and I were sitting in different corners. She asked us if she had shown us the pictures of her daughter from a recent festival. Mudrika said please show, and I pushed an empty chair forward and said please sit.

She blankly stared at the chair. Kept staring.

I thought to myself- she’s going to ask me if she might take this chair. Can I spare it? Do we have enough chairs? Do I like this one? What will Mudrika say? I wanted to rapidly reach a decision and if I was going to say no then find the right words for it.

She sat down and told us that she lost the work she had on xyz floor. She had quit.

One person living at that house had offered her a cup of tea. She had said yes and begun sipping it. Another person came out of a room, saw her and asked

“Tumhari himmat kaise hui” (How dare you)

“Bhaiya ne diya to maine piya, maine apne aap nahin liya” (He gave me the cup of tea, I didn’t take it myself)

“Bhaiya kisi bhi cup mein denge to tum pi logi? Tumhe apni aukaat nahin pata?”

(Even if he gave it, couldn’t you see that it was in a cup which is not for you, don’t you know your place/status?)

This outraged person snatched the cup of tea from her, poured the tea into a different cup, and then smashed the cup with her hands on the slab. Shards flew everywhere.

Chaai piyo, aur ye saaf karo, aur aaj ke baad apni aukaat mat bhoolna. (Drink the tea, clean the mess, and never forget your place again)

She collected the shards, threw them, left the house, sent them a voice note saying she won’t come from tomorrow and they need not pay her.

“Log paagal hain” I mumbled. (People are mad)

“Ji. Madam ne bola aukaat, lekin unka matlab jaat tha. Shayad hamara jaat hi hamaara aukaat hai.” she said and chuckled. (Madam said place/status but she meant caste. Or maybe my caste is my place.")