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Tripti Lahiri
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Maid in India: Stories of Inequality and Opportunity Inside Our Homes Kindle Edition

by Tripti Lahiri (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 63 ratings
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We eat first, they later, often out of food portioned out for them; we live in the front, they in the back; we sit on chairs and they on the floor; we drink from glasses and ceramic plates and they from ones made of steel set aside for them; we call them by their names, and they address us by titles: sir/ma’am, sahib/memsahib...

Every year, thousands of poor, illiterate, unskilled women flock to Delhi from villages across the country to work as domestic help. This is how Fullin from Athgama in rural Jharkhand, Lovely from a tiny settlement in Malda, Golbanu bibi from Doparia, Mae from Kokrajhar and a Santhali girl from Annabiri, in the heart of Maoist country—find themselves in the nation’s most powerful city, working for its richest people. This is how tycoons and refugees, politicians and orphans—India’s one per cent and her 99 per cent—rub shoulders every day, under the same roof.

In the not so distant past, everyone’s place— whether maid, ayah or cook, sahib or memsahib— was well understood. There were clear rules for negotiating (and maintaining) the vast chasm between the two sides. Today, it’s a little different. There are housekeepers who are part of the middle class who ensure their children join white-collar India. There are teenage girls brought to the city by ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ to serve as ‘24-hour’ help, who find themselves virtually, and sometimes literally, caged. There are employers who wrestle with the guilt of spending more on an Italian meal in a fancy hotel than on those who clean their homes— and other employers who insist ‘these people’ are all thieves.

With in-depth reporting in the villages from where women make their way to upper-class homes in Delhi and Gurgaon, courtrooms where the worst allegations of abuse get an airing, and homes up and down the class ladder, Maid in India is an illuminating and sobering account of the complex and troubling relations between the help and those they serve.
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  1. Print length
    330 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Aleph Book Company
  4. Publication date
    1 June 2017
  5. File size
    943 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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Product description

About the Author

Tripti Lahiri is the Asia editor of Quartz and is currently based in Hong Kong. In 2013, she was part of an award-winning Wall Street Journal team that reported in-depth on the law enforcement and judicial response to crimes against women in India. Before that she was the founding editor of the Journal’s India Real Time blog. She is a winner of a Society of Professional Journalists award for reporting on Bangladesh’s dangerous factories and also of the Ramnath Goenka award for civic journalism. This is her first book.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0725NQ72R
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aleph Book Company (1 June 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 943 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 330 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 9386021986
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 63 ratings

About the author

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Tripti Lahiri

Tripti Lahiri

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I'm the Asia editor for the digital business site Quartz, currently based in Hong Kong. Before working on "Maid in India," my first (very likely my only) book, I reported for The Wall Street Journal in India. In 2013, I was part of an award-winning Journal team that reported in-depth on the law enforcement response to violent crimes against women in India; before that I was founding editor of the Journal’s India Real Time blog. I worked as a wire reporter in South Asia, covering economic and social change in India and the clash between rebels and a former royal ruler in Nepal. Before moving to India I was a web producer in New York, occasionally writing about Mexican immigrants in the city. Way back when, I copy-edited for New York's weekly papers, like the Chelsea-Clinton News, and dabbled in covering community board meetings.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
63 global ratings
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5 Stars
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A book very well delivered by Amazon and stories even more effectively delivered by Ms. Tripti Lahiri. Absolutely worth buying this masterpiece.
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Top reviews from India

PPS
5.0 out of 5 stars Flinch Factor
Reviewed in India on 26 July 2023
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One of those nonfictions where, at places, you end up flinching! The author has juxtaposed anecdotes (of maids from Assam, Jharkhand, WB etc.) with hard-hitting data regarding the women who make life easier for other women!!
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Manoj R Nayak
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in India on 15 August 2017
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Awesome, still reading, will update soon.
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Smruthi
5.0 out of 5 stars Gold
Reviewed in India on 19 October 2020
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A book very well delivered by Amazon and stories even more effectively delivered by Ms. Tripti Lahiri. Absolutely worth buying this masterpiece.
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Smruthi
5.0 out of 5 stars Gold
Reviewed in India on 19 October 2020
A book very well delivered by Amazon and stories even more effectively delivered by Ms. Tripti Lahiri. Absolutely worth buying this masterpiece.
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Constant Reader
4.0 out of 5 stars Caste, class and the domestic help in middle-class India
Reviewed in India on 22 June 2017
A great book that really makes you think how we treat people according tot heir class and caste - yes, even the educated, liberal people - as nearly everyone employs help in their middle-class homes. A must-read. Very well written and easy to read - and even if it doesn't change your attitude towards people it will at least make you think about how humans treat each other.
One person found this helpful
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Mahender
2.0 out of 5 stars Haphazard, disorganised and lack deep understanding of the issue ...
Reviewed in India on 15 January 2018
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Haphazard , disorganised and lack deep understanding of the issue.
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sanjay biswal
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous
Reviewed in India on 7 May 2019
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This book is a wonder. Maids and their stories are said with empathy and to the point. So is of the employers. The author is spot on her observations. A very important book
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Thejus
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating exploration into the lives of Maids in Delhi
Reviewed in India on 19 July 2017
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Detailed, exhaustive and strongly insightful, this work gives an honest picture of maids in India and Delhi NCR in particular. Written in a simple yet compelling style, it is a fascinating journalistic research project that is un-putdownable!
One person found this helpful
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Anoop R
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring to Read
Reviewed in India on 31 July 2019
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Buy it only if you can resist the urge to fall asleep.
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Top reviews from other countries

Abi Jeyaramashandran
4.0 out of 5 stars insightful, interesting and well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2020
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I read this book quickly as I found it engaging and insightful- definitely recommend it and look forward to more work by this author.
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nanckauf
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Study of Culture
Reviewed in the United States on 28 November 2017
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Ms Lahiri has researched the subject of servants in India very well. I was impressed at the many facets she covers: the legal, the history, the delicate family relationships, the employment brokers, to name a few. Westerners are usually shocked to see the inevitable presence of servants in Indian households. This book will help to explain the phenomenon..
The writing is tight with lots of substance and little fluff.
One person found this helpful
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Jimmy Mathur
4.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book on the Indian Servant/Serving Class
Reviewed in the United States on 11 October 2017
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This is an unusual book because its focus is entirely on what is called the 'Servant Class' or 'Serving Class' in India. The author has developed an intimate knowledge of this class of people, especially womankind, through friendship and genuine respect of their background and their ambitions.
Anyone in India who employs servers, especially women to care for infants, should read this book.It is a tribute to the author for drawing our attention to this important class of people.
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Shuchi Gupta
5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched, engrossing commentary on a very important issue
Reviewed in the United States on 9 August 2017
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Tripti has captured the essence of prevalent slavery in India which everyone sees yet ignores.She is a great story teller and has done amazingly well to engage the reader and encourage to introspect
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F. Edwards
4.0 out of 5 stars Full of fascinating info...
Reviewed in the United States on 10 December 2020
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But I had hoped for more personal, in-depth stories of various maids, which is lacking. It is well-researched and full of statistics, just -- to me, at least -- is really missing personal connections.
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