This May Day, salute those who serve us

My grocer delivered two 20-litre bottles of water to my flat at 11.53pm on Friday. I am being specific about the time to emphasise it was seven minutes to midnight. He didn’t have to do this. Yes, I had paid him in advance the previous day for a morning delivery. When it didn’t come, I went to his shop on my way to office, asked him why he didn’t deliver as promised, and told him I had no drinking water at home now. He was very apologetic and promised to deliver the moment I returned from work, even if I was really late.

Fed up of explaining to people that I don’t keep normal working hours, I asked sarcastically, “even at midnight, because that’s when I get home.” He said, “yes madam”, and that’s exactly what happened. It would be unthinkable for this to happen in Delhi. Forget about a grocer being willing to deliver that late, I would have declined even if he had offered because of safety concerns.

This made me think that there are people who labour around us every day who ensure that our lives are smoother, less stressful because of their contributions to our lives. We all have stories of how one’s day goes into a funk when the domestic help takes the day off, how difficult it is to reach office when motormen, auto and taxi drivers strike, how the office loo is in a mess the day the one housekeeping staffer who sits there to keep it presentable takes the day off, and as I’ve mentioned, how I wouldn’t have had drinking water at home if the grocer didn’t drop it off at a time convenient to me. These people are essential to our lives, but are also the most taken for granted.

For example, take security guards. Of all the people who labour around me, my heart goes out to them the most. This has its roots in a visit to a Noida mall a few years ago. I was walking into a store and had to deposit the bags I carried with the ubiquitous security guard at the door. As he took my belongings, he sighed so mournfully, I still haven’t forgotten what it sounded like. Around the same time, a chat with a guard at my previous workplace in Delhi revealed to me how security guards work 12-hour shifts that barely give them time to travel the long way home and get some rest before heading back again. Security companies (and taxi companies) don’t follow 8 hour shifts because that means they have to pay three people for a day’s work (24 hours) instead of two people.

Long hours of standing at one place without being even acknowledged by the hordes that pass through the door can do something to one’s spirit. We all are humans who need validation. I’d feel like a worm if I repeatedly greeted someone cheerfully, like so many security staff do, and am ignored. But I see that happening wherever I go.

It’s Labour Day on May 1 (Tuesday). Even though we can’t save the world individually, let’s respond to security guards who greet us, thank housekeeping staff who clean our offices, the canteen guy who runs up and down stairs with our orders, and give the domestic help a holiday. We’ll be doing our souls some good.