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Mop, clean, wash, dust...is all in a day's work for housekeeping staff

...is all in a day's work for housekeeping staff Savita Naresupadia, finds out Marisha Karwa

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Savita Naresupadia has been working as a housekeeping staff for the last eight years
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Savita Naresupadia rises every morning at five and heads out half an hour later after quick ablutions and a bath. An autorickshaw ride at the early hour is the beginning of the ensuing hour-and-a-half commute from Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai to Parel, via Thane. The crimson-and-yellow trains seldom have an unoccupied seat on which she can perch her small frame, but that doesn't stop the 30-year-old from sprightly walking into the sixth floor office of an insurance company in a commercial high-rise to report for work at 7am.

"I then change from my sari into a uniform and get to work," says Naresupadia. "Hamare mein sari hi chalti hai, salwar-kurta allowed nahin (The women in our family must wear a sari, salwar-kurtas are disapproved of). This is why I carry my uniform and change here everyday." She spends the next two hours ensuring every cabin has a jug full of water and every workstation has been swiped off dust. By 9am, she is ready to take on the washrooms — mopping the floor, cleaning the commodes, emptying the bins, clearing the trash, stocking paper towels and tissue rolls. "The toilet seat is often left wet and the floor is dirty... I clean it all up, but sometimes it makes me wonder if the educated professionals don't know better."

Next, she heads off to the office canteen for breakfast before taking charge at the basin, cleaning dishes through lunch hour. Another short break for lunch, and Naresupadia's to-do list for the day is nearly all checked. "I revisit the washrooms to clean up and ensure everything is in order."

An employee of Spick & Span, a facility and property management services company, Naresupadia doesn't look down on the role of a housekeeping staff. Instead, it pays the bills and keeps her busy, she says. "I've never been told off for my work... in fact, my supervisor and even the officers praise me," she smiles. This wasn't the case eight years ago, when she first picked up a mop at the south Mumbai office of one of India's biggest conglomerates. "I'd never had to clean a toilet at home, so I did feel awkward at first about having to clean four washrooms over four floors. And that too with a mop, an implement I didn't know how to hold," she says.

On Saturdays, when the office is devoid of employees, Naresupadia and the rest of her housekeeping colleagues take over, vacuuming the floor, brushing the carpet, cleaning chairs, dusting tables, wiping workstations and ensuring the office is spic and span. Her 7-to-4 shift done, Naresupadia is just another sari-clad woman in the urban workforce, riding the local back home, playing Candy Crush on her phone.

Ask what how she spends her Sundays, and pat comes the reply: "It's the only day off, so I like to stay in and rest."

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