A Faithful Servant

Many are under impression that where there is more population there is no shortage of servants.But it is not actually the case.There must be willingness to work .If sizable number of people sit idle and wile away the time,there would be definitely shortage of servants even if there is more population. More the opulence or prosperity, less would be number of people willing to work for one whose stomach is full need not work at all. Further, majority of people in the world want to be masters. Nobody wants to remain as servants. This is one of the reasons why there is shortage of servants. In this modern world majority of people are in need of servants of one kind or another for one or another purpose. Servants are the work force.There is certainly dearth of servants in the present day world. Leave alone faithful servants, it is difficult to find ordinary servants these days. In order to overcome the shortage of servants husband and wife equally divide and share among them the domestic work. However,some people cannot carry on this world without servants also. In fact, servants are a necessity in many homes. There was huge gap between master and servants in olden days. Masters considered themselves as superiors and treated servants as inferiors. Of course,the gap between master and servants is narrowing down day by day. But,cordial master - servant relationship even now remains elusive. At present, communism is spreading all over the world. These days more or less every servant is aware of his rights though only a few among servants are aware of their duties.As a result, masters try to exploit servants and servants try to exploit masters in this universe .We cannot imagine even when this earth would be free of "the divide masters and servants"

One becomes a servant primarily to earn their bread and butter. In this context,there are certainly more opportunities to make livelihood in cities than in villages. In fact, these days number of sincere faithful servants is coming down day by day.Moreover, nowadays many servants pretend as if they are very faithful but in reality they are not at all faithful . They do not attend to any other work other than what they had agreed. Of course ,days of bonded labor and slavery are almost over in this universe. In India caste and communal feelings are on decline. Servants belonging to any castes are preferred nowadays. Here is a real story of a woman who served a family not as a servant but as a member of a family for over three decades. It proves that a faithful servant neither needs persuasion nor an incentive. A servant can be hired but not fidelity. The faithfulness is an imbibed quality.

Mrs Radha and Mr Madhav were a working couple at Bangalore in nineteen sixties.Even during those days , employment was quite essential for both husband and wife in a middle class family to have necessities of life leave alone luxuries. Mrs Radha and Mr Madhav were having decent jobs and were drawing decent salaries also. They were having two children by name Vijay and Vidya aged five and three years respectively. The children were attending kindergarten classes.They were badly in need of a lady to look after their children as well as their home.Every day kids were to be readied for their classes. Every day food for all had to be cooked. Whenever necessary groceries and vegetable had to be bought from market. They would have failed in their duties if they had not paid due attention to studies of their children. Only working couples who have children can understand the turmoil that they faced. At work place also they had to strive hard. They had to face stiff competition. They had to maintain punctuality. In order to tide over all the hurdles,Mrs Radha and Mr. Madhav were in need of a female assistant.

Mrs. Varadamma was a widow. She had neither children nor any other relatives. She was alone.She was in need of a calm peaceful safe place to live in. She was not at all bothered about anything else. She had undergone a great upheaval in her life. She wanted to be away from nasty atmosphere of her native place because in a little village like hers every second person would be interested in others affairs.Tiny village like hers was a place of gossip. In a big city everybody is busy with their own life and nobody is bothered about others. She was looking for a change in atmosphere. She wanted to bury the past completely.That was why she accepted the offer of Mrs Radha & Mr.Madhav readily.It was mutually beneficial.It was an opportunity for her to lead a new kind of life.

All along she was longing to have children but God did not bless her.She could enjoy company of little Vijay and Vidya. Children could enliven and make anyone cheerful. Vijay and Vidya too needed badly company. Varadamma became their affectionate and they in turn became her affectionate. Love and affection are always mutual.It is love or affection that only always grows when shared with others.Varadamma was a motherly figure.She had no desires whatsoever. She knew what she was and how she should be.

She was faithful to the core. Her behavior was always praiseworthy. In fact, it was exemplary.She was herself taking always initiative and wholeheartedly doing work. It was enough if anything was once told to her . There was no need to remind her at all. There was no work agreed upon, working hours or any working schedule for her.Work was worship to her. She was never lazy. She was not all interfering in anyway in the family affairs. Their welfare was her sole motto. She became "Amma" to Vijay and Vidya. Even Mrs Radha and Mr Madhav began to address her as "Amma". She became a member of that family.When first pay was offered, she did not accept it. Hence,Mrs Radha and Mr Madhav opened a joint bank account and were crediting regularly a decent sum to her account every month.They never forgot to increase her pay from time to time. Of course,Varadamma too never demanded any increase at any time.

Varadamma always showered them with her love. She never got angry with them at any time. Day by day she and the members of that family came closer and closer. Peace,tranquility and comforts of that family grew by leaps and bounds as the days passed. Varadamma's contribution to such a cordial atmosphere could not be measured . The relationship between Varadamma and the family was always good. It was never a master and servant relationship at all.

Time is never static. Time flies. Vijay and Vidya grew up. Vidya got married and she is now in Mumbai happily with her husband. Vijay is in Hyderabad . He is now employed with BHEL after his engineering graduation. Both children had not forgotten Varadamma. How could they forget her? Such a bond had developed between them which could never be broken. Distance did not separate them even. Every week end , they were telephoning her to inquire about her health. They were chit chatting over telephone with her during their leisure time unfailingly .

Often Vijay and Vidya used to recollect services rendered by Varadamma. Everyday Varadamma used to prepare bed for them and tell them stories. She used to prepare delicious food for them. Varadamma had noted their likes and dislikes. She used to wash their clothes, iron them and keep them neatly ready for their wear.Wake them up in the morning and readying them to school.As and when time permitted ,she was never forgetting to give them oil bath.Whenever they were ill it was Varadamma who looked after them with due care. Whatever they are today, all credit goes to her. She molded them.

On a week end, as usual Vijay telephoned to Varadamma. Telephone was ringing intermittently and nobody was lifting the receiver. He telephoned his sister and inquired about calls to Varadamma. Vidya also informed that her calls were not attended. Mrs Radha and Mr Madhav who were at Varanasi also informed Vijay that their calls to home number were unresponsive. Vijay felt that something might have gone wrong at their home. So immediately, boarded a plane to Bangalore. When he got the door of their home opened, he found Varadamma in the bathroom. Three days back,she had slipped in the bathroom & had got many of her bones fractured. She had to be taken to hospital immediately. Vijay wasted no time, he took all the steps that were necessary for her treatment. Mrs Radha & Mr Madhav, cancelled their trip and flew back to Bangalore to be at the service of Varadamma. At an old age it is really hard to recover from any injury or ailment. Treatment and other expenditure costed them lakhs of rupees. The family did'not draw even a single rupee from the emoluments of Varadamma to meet the expenses.

After receiving treatment and due care for several months, Varadamma recouped. She was nearing eighty years of age. Day by day her health deteriorated. The family was grateful for the service she rendered to them when she was hale and healthy. They were looking after her like a child. They never considered her as a burden . They took all the care to look after her. How long one could survive? One who has born has to die one day. One fine morning, she breathed her last. Her death was peaceful and quiet. At the last minute , all the members of family offered her holy water of Ganga. It was Vijay who lit the pyre .They wanted to get her last rites performed as per their custom. Nobody, had visited them all those years as someone who was closely related to Varadamma except a person. The person had visited them that too several years back. He had stayed for a few days only with them. He was good and cordial. Mrs Radha and Mr Madhav, put in all the efforts to locate that person. But all their efforts were in vain. They could not locate either he or any other relative of Varadamma. At last, it was decided that Vijay should perform her last rites and were performed at Vidyapeeta. Her ashes were immersed at Paschima Vaahini section of the Kaveri at Srirangapattana.Her soul rests in peace in heavenly abode. The family donated her entire emoluments to a charitable trust. Varadamma might not have even dreamed more than this. Nothing in this world pays more dividend than love and affection between one another.