What Goes Around Comes Around

Savithri earns a living as a housekeeper. Her husband, Anand, is a construction worker. They live with her aged parents, father-in-law, and her two school-going children, aged 8 and 10. They save every penny to educate their children and look after the elders in the family.

One day, Anand comes back from work, feeling dismayed. The construction work has been paused for at least two months, owing to the lockdown. Savithri, too, has been asked to stay at home by her employer, Nisha.

Savithri and Anand are anxious about feeding the family. They have been waiting for the month-end to buy some essential groceries for the house. They put a bold face upfront. While they are using this time to spend time with family, the anxiety never goes away.

Finally, it’s the end of the month. Savithri, who has never taken debt in her life, is toying with the idea of asking Nisha for help. She has been working there for seven years, and thinks that Nisha will understand her situation.

She calls up Nisha, but as soon as Nisha answers the call, she just inquires about Nisha’s family and well-being, and hangs up the call. She is unable to bring herself to ask for monetary help.

Nisha is sipping coffee with her husband, Rishi. She tells her husband that Savithri called her in the morning.

‘Is she asking for money?’ Rishi asked immediately.

Rishi, who works has a store manager in a supermarket, is strict with all his workers.  He knows the pulse of a worker, and his motto is that servants and workers must be shown their place; otherwise, they may encash our soft corner for them.

Nisha, who works as a manager in a software company, is strict with her team members, too. However, she is empathetic with her colleagues.

She has not answered Rishi.

‘Nisha, why does your heart melt so easily? Don’t you know how these servants are…’

‘She did not ask for money or any kind of help. She just called up inquiring about us.’

Rishi is confused. He does not think that such a thing is possible.

‘However, I suspect that she wanted to ask for help, but hesitated’, says Nisha.

‘There you go – she deliberately did that, and you begin to melt…’

‘Look, Rishi, I still want to help Savithri.

‘Reason 1: She has been working with us for seven years. She has been loyal and hard-working. She has never bunked work.

‘Reason 2: She works only for us and in a school, which is closed now. I am sure her husband cannot work now either. How do you think she’ll feed her family of seven?

‘Reason 3: We are fortunate enough that we need not worry about our basic needs.

‘Reason 4: Think of it as charity. Instead of dropping this amount in a hundi – I am not sure where that money lands, anyways – I am planning to give this away to someone in need. At least I know that 100 percent of the money is in the right hands.

Rishi is speechless. He feels ashamed that it has not struck him how loyal Savithri has been, and this gesture will only gain more loyalty.

Savithri’s phone beeps, indicating a new message. It’s from Google Pay. She has received her full pay although she has worked for only half the days. Also, there’s a message, stating that she’ll receive her next month’s pay as well at the end of next month.

Savithri has tears of joy and gratitude. She heads to an ATM, saying a hundred thanks to Nisha.

Lock down is revoked now. It’s business as usual. Rishi’s attitude towards the workers in his supermarket has changed now, and he notices a change in their attitude towards him too for the better.