How is the life of a domestic helper in Goa?
Domestic helpers earn little money in India. Few people choose to work as a domestic worker and most times they turn out to be non-locals. Many from the North come over to the South to take up such jobs. In many cases, even when there isn’t a monetary requirement to.
On my all-India cycle tour, I visited a temple in Goa where I got to meet a person from Haryana, Mr Mukesh Sharma. As it turned out, he was one of the sweetest people I met on my tour in Goa. He offered me food and was even willing to host me inside his house. Speaking with him, I got to learn how the life of a domestic worker is in Goa. I wanted to know why he was there in Goa and what his life was like. After interacting with him, I got insights on fronts I hadn’t imagined.
So how is the life of a temple cleaner/domestic helper in Goa?
Why does one become a domestic helper in Goa?
As such, a domestic worker requires few skills to be employed. If one could broom and sweep, run to the place of the employer when called for, and speak fluently, they could easily be employed anywhere. Mukesh could speak fluent English. He also seemed to be good at basic mathematics. So why would he have to choose to work as a cleaner at a temple? There were a couple of reasons he mentioned.
Education
Mukesh had completed his 12th in Haryana and dropped out of a bachelor’s degree he had enrolled on. He said the mistake he did was to start earning while in college. He would work as a Zomato delivery person in the afternoon bunking college. As he could easily earn 500 rupees a day, he slowly lost interest in studying. I asked Mukesh what he would do with the money he earned. Through him, I got to know that there is a social media application called Fala which allows strangers to interact on the platform. If one recharges into the profile, they can get to enter rooms where they can meet people from all fields of life. Mukesh had blown up 1.5 lakh rupees on the app. It came as a total surprise that he continues to use the app and it has rubbed off on his wife too. In the 4+ hour time, I spent with Mukesh, I saw his wife constantly on the phone using the app to speak with strangers.
Mukesh told he had to figure out a job for his qualification. The current scenario is one where a 12th standard pass out may not receive a good job. Luckily for him, he got a job at Gujarat Railways as a compartment cleaner. This too did not last for long due to an episode he faced at home.
Personal issues
When Mukesh was working in Gujarat railways, he got a call from home saying one of their neighbours was troubling them. Mukesh headed back home and fought with the neighbours. A moment of rage lead to a first fight that led to a police case on Mukesh stripping him of his government job at railways. He was left with no other job and a police case on him. With this, he took up the job of a driver. For a whole year, he worked as an outstation cab driver for tourists from Haryana. Unfortunately for him, this too did not last long as he was away from his current wife who was his then-girlfriend.
Love and marriage
Mukesh’s met his wife when he worked at the Gujarat Railways. Being an orphan she was being raised by an organization which was right beside the railway quarters that Mukesh lived in. When Mukesh left for home and was working as a cab driver, his wife completed 18. She was taken to UP by her uncle and aunt who had her sign papers and take away her assets. With that, she was kept at their house as a helper. Mukesh went to her aunt’s house and told them that he would give them 3 days’ time before which he would elope her and get married to her. It was a better thing to do from their end that they handed her to him. As they disobeyed his orders, he went on to book a train for her from UP to Goa where he would turn out to meet her and get married. This meant that Mukesh quit his cab driver job too.
Initially, for the first couple of months, he worked as a Zomato delivery person in Goa taking care of his wife. A few months later his family called him over and agreed to their marriage back home. They married to a larger audience in Haryana and Mukesh at the time was left with no job.
Other jobs
As Mukesh had a police case on him, residing in Haryana was not the best thing to do. His family asked him to stay away from home for a short time and return later when all of it was settled. So Mukesh with his wife came back to Goa where he started looking for jobs. He looked for jobs at billing counters on the many cruise ships of Goa. Eventually, he was recommended to be offered the job of a domestic worker at a temple in Goa. At the time I met him, it had been only a month since he had taken up the job. Mukesh said he is doing very well there as he seems to have very little job and is offered a decent salary with a place to stay.
The lifestyle of a domestic helper in Goa
Mukesh wakes up in the morning at 6 and starts cleaning the temple. By 8 he is done brooming the entire place. His wife joins him in sweeping and keeping the place clean. By 10 his work for the day is entirely done. He is paid 15 thousand rupees for this job along with a house to stay in and food in the afternoon.
As he is free for the rest of the day, it allows him to also work for Zomato at times. He says he is happy with his earnings. Sometimes, he is asked to clean the marriage hall which is right behind, for which he earns extra money.
I asked his wife if she preferred going back home or being in Goa doing the very thing they are doing now. She said she hates to think about going back home. The village lifestyle does not appeal to her. She said the temple is around in a posh locality and she gets to see quieter people who are up to themselves. When she looks at people sitting outside their houses and discussing in the evenings, she feels like doing the same. She said the village is too noisy and unclean that way.
The mindset of a domestic helper in Goa
After interacting with Mukesh for this long, I was curious to know what went on in his mind to be able to quit many jobs and yet have the confidence to get married running from home.
Justification
He didn’t seem to have any justifications for working as a domestic helper at the temple apart from the fact that he was happy to live there. This also sort of left me with a question if he had any plans in his life. On asking the same Mukesh told me that he was doing everything to settle down in his life.
Validations
Mukesh said he doesn’t care about anybody. He doesn’t believe in friendships. He said he had his share of betrayals and thus believed no one. Whatever he did, he did it for himself and nobody else.
Complaints
Mukesh told me that the biggest complaint in his life is that he has quit everything that he has started. Be it his education or the different jobs he has taken. He hasn’t been able to stick through with anything. That for him is the biggest complaint in his life.
Materialism
On being asked what he would do if he was given all the money he needed, he said he would first open a cafe in Goa and then go on to build a house there with the money that he makes from the cafe. He said he has travelled all over India when he worked in tours and travels. He has no intention to move out anywhere. Goa seems to be the place for him.
Mukesh’s story was a strange one for me. One that I hadn’t come across in my journey. A small realization I had from this story was that people who have an aim make their way through and those who don’t are all over the place. He seemed to be all over the place but seemed to accept it. This left me with a question in my mind. Where do people get direction in their lives from? Is it their state of mind that dictates their interests or the depth of knowledge they attain in any field they happen to choose or/was offered to them?
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I am a 31 year young PhD graduate who has decided to travel the length and breadth of India on my cycle, to document the journey of meeting a vast array of people. In my journey, I intend to understand the characteristic features of the people of this nation and categorize them based on their demographics, age, profession, gender, traditions, and cultural differences.
These articles have literally changed the definition of goa trip for me.