Shrinking Serfdom

Okay, this sounds pretty tragic doesn't it...shrinking serfdom. Some friends of ours have teased us about the large serfdom we rule as we have had so many people working for us. But not anymore. We have been letting the heads roll, well not really but it makes it sound much more dramatic.

We had 2 gardeners employed, but one (Vinkat) rarely showed up, instead he sent his wife and his elderly father to help in the garden. So we often had 3 people out in the yard doing various things, way too many people! The main reason Vinkat was hired was because he was going to lose his job, but he didn't. The house came with a couple, Saraswathe and Sampath (pronounced Sarasooti and Sambit) who took care of the house and the garden. There was quite a bit of friction between all the people and it seemed like there was always bickering going on. Plus we always had so many people underfoot! After our pool turned green last week due to Vinkat's negligence on coming to work on the pool we decided to let go of Vinkat and his entourage. We proceeded to ask Saraswathe and Sampeth's to care for the entire garden, pool and house for an increased salary. They were thrilled and honored to know be given this responsibility. The flower bed are looking awesome as Sampeth has been working very hard on them. We have been purchasing lots of flowers and plants. Of course ma'am is not allowed to get her hands dirty so I just supervise! Since school is out Sampeth's oldest son is helping some so now I feel like I am enlisting child labor...

One thing that Sampeth is thrilled about is our new lawnmower (although here they are called grass cutter). It is just an old fashioned reel type mower that is just perfect for our lawn. We had no desire to purchase an electric mower because then you need more people to help, one to push, one to hold the electric cord up and one to keep it plugged in at all times. We could have purchased a gas mower but they are very expensive and since we can't bring it back to the US we would have had to try to sell it before we left. So the old fashioned one works great, cuts much more even than the shears and is much faster. When they cut it with the shears they would get the yard done and they would have to start again. The trimming still is done by hand, no solution for that yet. No one went for my idea of bringing in some water buffalo, they would have gladly taken care of the yard for free and would have even supplied their own fertilizer!



The pool is finally clear again thanks to Ted working diligently with Sampeth to maintain proper chlorine levels and to clean it thoroughly. I had to laugh when one man came out to test the pool and I pointed out that the directions said he should add more drops to properly calculate the PH and Chlorine levels, he informed me that we had different water. Some days you just want to bang your head against the cement walls! Isn't water the same everywhere??

So now our small serfdom consists of 1 gardener, 1 maid, 2 drivers, and 4 guards (only 2 per shift). Our family is looking forward to having privacy when we visit the US this summer...although who will open our door, do the dishes, take care of the laundry, clean, drive us around, carry my groceries in, wash our produce, etc. Yikes, I am getting spoiled here!