The Maid, A legacy of the British Raj

By Madan, 8th Jan 2012 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/3bm4wg3q/
Posted in Wikinut>Family>Daily Life

The Maid culture is a British legacy and it is now deeply rooted in India.

Maid Culture

Maids and sahibs

The maid or in India the Amah or Ayah has had a traumatic effect on family life. One reads many books by Victorian writers that parrot the lines “Master! Was I good? In fact the genesis of the maid as a part-time mistress really commences from this Victorian period. Sex then was taboo and this resulted in the concept of the maid as a mistress and companion. It was discreet and the master could indulge in his fantasies.

‘Before the Rains’

Some time back there was an excellent movie starring Rahul Bose titled’ Before the rains’. This movie in fact was an exposition of the maid culture in India. The movie set in south India brings to the fore the maid culture in all its glory or importance. The movie has the backdrop of the last days of the Raj. It also shows that the maid culture was introduced in India by the English rulers. It was a part of the permissive atmosphere which the British rulers savored when their families had gone for long periods, sometimes running into months to ‘home’, which referred to England. The period of absence of the family and the wife was pretty long as one recollects that a ship from Bombay to the UK took nearly a month in those days, when travel by air was not heard off.

Loneliness of the Sahib

It is to the credit of the British rulers that they opened up India as never before. They travelled and lived in far of places, some of then inaccessible for long periods as they helped administer the country. The spin-off was development for India. In remote places like the Nilgiri hills or the tea plantations of Darjeeling or Assam and the mountains of Uttarkhand, the British bosses lived a lonely life. In case their families went away to England it was inevitable that their place was filled by the Indian maid. The maid looked after the house and it was not uncommon for the Master to bed the maid as well. This was an accepted norm and no eyebrows were raised, though the lady of the house coming back from England when faced with such a situation would fret and fume. There was unpleasantness, but it was accepted as a hazard that was a spin-off for the pleasure that the master had indulged in.

Maids and British Masters

Many maids did conceive as well and that spawned a breed of Anglo-Indians, that are today a reminder of this liaison with the British master. It must be understood that very little coercion took part in this activity and it is on record that many or I can say most Indian maids did fancy the master of the house. This is excellently illustrated on the screen in ‘After the rains’. Indian women loved to work as maids and the local villager’s husbands and fathers all accepted this. Nandita Bose turns in a stellar performance as the maid who loves the English master in this movie.

The Mem Sahib

The British ruled India for nearly 200 years and during this period the maid or amah became a permanent fixture in a colonial household. The lady wives were also completely dependent on the maids who did everything from washing clothes, tending the children and garden, cooking and house keeping. In addition as the British rulers lived in large mansions, more than one maid worked in a house hold. Coming from dreary England with its smog and fog, the English house wife never had it so good. They loved this life. Thus the concept of the ‘Mem sahib’ or white lady boss gained credence.

The British masters however on leaving India never took the maids to England and their dalliance was confined to India.

A Legacy ?

The British left India in 1947, but the maid culture stayed behind. It is not like what it was during the days of the Raj, but the trappings are similar. But the period of the Raj is a nostalgic episode in Indian history. It is one period that can never be erased and has led to everything that we see today as a tribute to the Raj. It was a romantic age and as yet full justice has not been done to this period. Along with other legacies of the Raj, the maid or Amah is one of them as well.

Meet the author

Madan
A man who spent his early years in Air Force. An avid writer with over2500 articles and 50 short stories published.Two novels on the anvil for publication.