Thursday, November 29, 2007

Woman Cook

There is a small wayside restaurent near our flat. A muslim woman comes to cook here. She comes at 6.30 in the morning and works till about 3.30 in the evening. She is the second wife of a muslim man who works in a public transport bus. She has three children and they are looked after by her parents in Kodungalloor. She seemed to be having a never ending source of energy and she worked continuously. She had sips of tea while working. She was paid Rs.175 per day. She made puri. iddli, dosa. puttu. potato curry, egg curry, peas curry in the morning for breakfast and for lunch she cooked rice(choru), fish curry, sambar, avial. moru,pickle, beef curry. For evening snacks she made bonda. banana fry, undan pori. She always appeared to be friendly, cheerful, and always ready to help. However, the owner was a sick man and could not get enough manual help to serve the customers and wash up the plates and tumblers.So one day he decided to rent out the hotel to another man for a daily rent of Rs.200. The poor woman lost her job. I wonder what she is doing now and how she is supporting her three childern. Her husband does 't earn enough money to support two wives and five children.

1 comment:

Mel said...

It sounds like she is full of inner strength and joy. I bet wherever she is, she is happy.