A Day in the Life of The Invisible Millions

Adpated from: The Star Weekend Magazine by Hana Shams Ahmed and Independent Lens

Here in the West, the concept of having servants or domestic workers has largely disappeared. And those that can afford to have either full-time or part-time help must provide a living wage and abide by government regulations, with some countries even providing social security and medical benefits and requiring employers to provide paid holidays.

However in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, a typical middle-class family employs a single domestic worker who is responsible for performing all of the work in the household. Working from dawn until midnight; Waking up earliest in the morning, preparing breakfast for everyone in the house, getting the children ready for school, cleaning the furniture, sweeping the house, cleaning the toilets, washing the clothes, cutting and preparing lunch. The list is never ending with domestic workers often working 16+ hours/day.

With the lowest status in society, domestic workers are rarely called by their real name, summoned only by 'cheri' or 'chemri' (or 'chamra' for boys). As many domestics are under the age of 15, they often grow up without even learning how to write their own name. It's a vicious cycle of poverty as generation after generation remains uneducated and incapable of gaining access to better opportunities. Girls are even more at a disadvantage. Rarely, if ever, are they allowed to go out. Even a trip to the balcony or the rooftop is received with a sharp reprimand. When the family leaves the house, the girl is locked up from the outside, leaving her defenseless in the event of a fire.

Lakshmi and Me, is the revealing documentary film by Nishtha Jain. Set in Mumbai, India, the film is an intimate look at the relationship between an employer and her domestic worker in modern-day India, where one’s status, relationships and livelihood are often still ordained by the ancient caste system. The film is a lens into modern-day India, where millions of upwardly mobile and emerging middle-class women can now afford to have domestic help.

Like most domestic workers in India, Lakshmi works nonstop—10 hours a day, seven days a week, in six different households. She works without days off, without complaining and without bitterness—for the monthly pay of 600 rupees or so from each home.

In a hierarchical society where class lines build impenetrable walls, Lakshmi and Me is a story about lines blurring and lives impacting one another, despite the rigidity of archaic traditions meant to keep them apart.