Once I started workign in India, I quickly became aquainted with the unique concept of an 'office boy' . A handyman, a factotum, who magically makes things happen.
From bring you tea and coffee, to clearing your glasses and dishes, to behaving like your personal courier, office boys can do anything to make your life simpler at work. One day a cupboard in my office was locked in mysteriously and I needed from supplies from it urgently. After trying to do things the 'right way' - like asking administration to order a urgent set of replica keys, I hard nothing back forseveral hours. I started getting desperate. I called one of my favourite office boys - Yogesh and told him in true Indian Behenji (Ajuma in Korean or Auntie in Singapore) style, "Do what you need to but I need this cupboard opened". After conferring with his buddy, he brought in a screw driver and five minutes later the cupboard was pried open with the lock unharmed! Miracles, I say!
More curiously, business partners and vendors will regularly send their office boy from one corner of the city to the other just to deliver a sheet of paper (that they could have scanned and emailed much more easily) but the boys are used to it and enjoy their day out in the process. Oh, the joys of cheap labour. Everytime I have suggested the scanning solution, I have typically been met with confused radio silence from the other end of the phone. Som people have enthusiastically embraced it I must say.....
Anyway, one thing that is curious is that there are no 'office girls!'; only office boys.
In the same way that 99% of the times, household help in India are only women....maids.
In this case, there are the minority of men who cook and clean as household help.
Anyway, thats the story of the office boys in Mumbai.
-M
1 comment:
I am so very envious! Can't force myself to get up to make chai anymore after reading this one!
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