(Shoplifter - a person who takes goods from a shop without paying for them;
Greenlifter - a person who takes/lifts plants from secluded places or thrown away plants when no one is watching them)
More often than not, our part-time domestic helps do much more than are required by them to do. Especially during this unfortunate period of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the elderly are majorly forced to stay indoors, these domestic helps have been a boon in many households with bringing in supplies or other basic necessities or taking care of them as and when required.
Be it bringing flowers for my mother's 'Puja' offerings to the house deities, or buying day-to-day groceries which run out of stock, or bringing any vegetable which my mother has wished to cook the next day but is out of stock at home, my mother's help does it all with a smile. And we love her for that!
I have a 'Greenlifter' in my part-time domestic help, despite my warning her not to do so. Well acquainted with my love for plants, once in a blue moon, my house-help pulls out shrubs/plants which have been cut or thrown away from other houses, or which are in secluded public places and brings it to me to be potted in my collection. And somehow she remembers all my plants in my collection, because she has so far never lifted plants that are already there in my collection!
Last week when she gave me the 'alternanthera' (in the pic) to be potted, despite her unwise act, I was overwhelmed at her thoughtfulness towards my passion. Little did I apprehend, that she had planned on not turning up the next day without any prior information and with her phone 'out of reach', and this plant gifting was a bribe of sorts!
Next to next day, on her return to work, when I started to give her a piece of my mind for her irresponsible behaviour, she immediately asks, 'How is the purple plant doing? Have you potted it?' I was dumbstruck and the grawlixes '%#!@&*' played out in my head. 'They're fine', I replied with a grumpy face, keeping it short to let her know that I was in no mood of chitchatting with her. And that was the halt to any further conversation between us that day.
The oft love-hate relationships we have with our domestic helps.....
Now that I think of it, I think it's not the plants she remembers in my collection but the colour. So far she has gifted me a 'purple heart plant' and the 'alternanthera' - both purple leaf plants. Prior to these two, I didn't own any purple leaf plants!
Well, 'purplelifter' will be a more apt name for her then! What do you think?
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Do you have a 'greenlifter' in your home? Would love to hear other sunny/funny side of your domestic helps' stories. Please feel free to share..