Man of the house...

As soon as I found out we were moving to New Delhi, I started trying to find out as much as I could about anything having to do with New Delhi and India. I read fiction and nonfiction, contacted friends who had been to India, did research online and read blogs. While I realize that everyone's experience is their own, it was interesting to know about their different perspectives. At times I was overwhelmed with all the information I was getting and realized that it's hard to imagine something you've never experienced. I was full of anticipation upon arrival and, quite frankly, expected the worst. We have been more than pleasantly surprised and, although it's only been just over three months, we are very happy here. Of course, some things are more challenging, but we try not to get hung up on what's different or what could be improved i.e. the continually leaky faucet in our bathroom or no hot water in the boys' bathroom. One thing that we were very unsure of in moving here was the fact that people, in general, have house staff. When we moved into our apartment, we quickly realized we needed someone to deal with the endless stream of people knocking at our door, but also primarily to go to the market and clean. Admittedly, going to the market is something I could do myself, but it's not always a place I want to take Arthur. It can be dusty, dirty and hot. I could also clean the house myself, but New Delhi is a very dusty city and the house needs to be thoroughly cleaned everyday, especially for a little baby who's crawling all over. So, we hired Raju. He told us he does everything and he does. He cleans, goes the the market, irons and cooks dinner most nights. And he does more...two weeks ago I bought some chicken at our local market, not only was one of the chickens past its prime, I was grossly overcharged. The next day, he went to the store, worked his magic and came back with some good fresh meat. He also had some not-so nice words for a man who sold me a broken bamboo mat. Raju looks out for us and I appreciate it. On Monday, however, I realized how truly luckly we are to have him working in our house. I ate something I shouldn't have (stupid me had a drink with ice) and I paid the price...for two days. When Raju came to work on Monday, he saw how sick I was and new exactly what I needed--dal, rice and yogurt. Okay, not exactly the combination I was thinking of as my stomach cramped, but he made it so I ate it and, amazingly, it helped. When he finished cooking that afternoon, he spent time with the boys (which is not part of his job) and held Arthur so I could help Dorian with his dinner. Raju, already helps us so much on an almost daily basis, I was so touched that he would step in and help me when I needed it most. Thank you Raju!