“Oh …. Women.. !!” And she nodded in a “are crazy” way!
Well indeed we are — as crazy as every next one on this Earth unless you prove otherwise. For me that day, I couldn’t spare a proof — our house was full of unpacked boxes over 50% of which had my name on them ! And wait .. 50% of the rest of them were in the Indian kitchen — we were about to set up!
My first ever Portuguese WOH’s weren’t the only hands helping us that day, we had an extra pair of little ones making their way to our smiles and amusement through our 8-yrs-packed-in-100-boxes bonanza spread through out our new nest!
This 5 month old was my only friend in that totally-foreign-to-me part of this world. She would come in everyday with her mother.. (like for 2 months already now ) and make me cheerful .. no matter what !
May be a little area to crawl around or a little TV or in worst times — her mothers empty arm while the other vacuumed.. was enough to keep this one no-fuss-smiley-delight kind of a baby happy!
While this little one was adept at amusing me, her mother was adept at household chores and handling-her-babies-well alike ! She was a lady of less words and more work — 3 hours of her and our house would shine like new!
Every bit and corner of my not-so-crowded Portuguese kitchenette looked like dish-washed and kept !
“2 absbshshehbs#”
“2 mais?” (Months)
“Nope.. “
“2 Semana?” (Weeks)
“Nope…”
action and signal <2 fingers>
“2 bebes?”
“Yes … babies.. 2 babies”
“Ohhhhh dois bebes …. Oh my god …. Ohh oh my god .. Boaaaaaaaa” (wooooww)
Went our conversation the first time I had met this mother-daughter duo.
And since then the word “Gemeos” is labelled to us …. Clinics, hospitals, schools, even our kids wet tissue packet reads “Os Gemeos” ! (The twins)
Portuguese has a few Marathi words like Batata, ananas and a few English-like — “vegetariano” , “nao”, and a hell lot of those that go straight over my head !
“Cozinha Indiano … muito spicy!” (Indian food is very spicy)
“No not much .. our daily food is not spicy at all .. do you want to try some?”
“Ah aha ha ha .. muitooo spicy”
😈😈
#evilgrin Wanna taste some Indori Long Sev or Jeeravan? 🤪
😈😈
— — some other day — —
“Cafe Indiano?”
“No it’s Indian Tea?”
“Spice in Tea?”
Well yeah … we don’t even leave our beloved Chai alone ! Don’t we ?😜
— —
Although our WOH was a reference from our land-lady, our biggest mediator, while hiring her was really ‘Google Translate’ — which took double the time but conveyed all my requirements and emotions correctly across.
While I had a packed-schedule of morning sickness, constant-eating-denials, binging ‘the gossip girls’, ‘playing with her baby’ or ‘getting kicked by one of mine’ during the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy, she would be invested in cleaning every fruit and vegetable on the table/in the fridge or the little packets of Indian stuff I kept rubber-tied in the empty racks .. and moving them to a better place every single day !
Yet the search-spree every morning was easier than learning the common language to tell her that!
‘Ingles’ as they call it wasn’t at all her cup of tea (or cafe for that matter). She would pass me pre-written chits in English if she had to ask for an off or bring her other kid in some days! Presentable persona, attractive clothes, new shoes/bags every day , 3 different kinds of gloves, 10 different kinds of sprays, multiple aprons hung in the back of her car, a moderately priced mobile phone that too used sparingly (so unlike Thai 🤪), 2 lovely kids, 1 big heart and a genuine desire to work — my WOH was a package-deal!
It was for the unpacking, she was working for 2-man-days straight! Empty Kitchen racks weren’t available anymore and it was time to open my boxes.
“My tops” … awww “My dresses” … “my formals” .. “my causals”… “my sarees” … boxes after boxes — clothes, clothes and more clothes !! That’s when her “Oh …. Women.. !!” Exclaim had escaped her mouth.
And I am sure there was one more that was dying to come out “Thank God this crazy lady is leaving for India tomorrow… 🤪“ !
“Main dheere dheere aapka poora ghar saaf kar dungi”
😧😧#?#?#?#?#
“Magar beti mujhe ek din me sirf ek hi kaam batana”
“ Main Tumhari tarah jawan to hu nahi”
“Aur Subah mujhe ladkiyon ka Khaana bhi banake aana hota hai”
“Lekin main dheere dheere aapka poora ghar saaf kar dungi”
I wonder her “Ghar saaf kar dungi” involves ‘deep-cleaning’ or has a deeper meaning 🤪
It was a contrasting start to our latest WOH-hunt at my Mom’s in India!
Will be back with this WOH-adventure on my next episode !
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