When Amazon delivered & we failed.

I received my medicines from Amazon today. Today is May 6, 2020. I had ordered them on April 20, 2020. They were shipped on April 22, 2020 and arrived at its destination town on April 25, 2020. I tried unsuccessfully to get the package delivered to my house. Multiple chats with Amazon customer service later, I gave up. Though the package is at the local distribution center, there were not enough delivery folks to bring it to me. If they did bring it to me, the local community associations were making a hue and cry about delivery people and they were increasingly reluctant to deliver, even if they were being told that I will meet them at the main gate so that they won’t have to leave the package with security, which the security was refusing to accept. Amazon said it can’t reach its distribution centers. They do not have the contact information. How then do they resolve customers’ issues when things don’t go as they should with deliveries? That issue will have to wait to be discussed at another time in another article.

Today after district administration relaxed more restrictions on movement and is allowing people from more sectors to go back to work, I got my medicines. In the meantime I had ordered another lot just in case this package was going to get stuck somewhere in between and delivery becomes improbable. That hasn’t been shipped yet. I will let them ship and deliver it, to have stock for another month just in case a second wave of infections lead to another lockdown. Medicines, essential, and the local drug stores don’t usually carry the ones I need.

The world will do what it does. I will do what I feel is right as per my beliefs, principles, and as per what I have been taught and seen being the norm in my home.

I was in the middle of class yesterday when my phone rang. I asked my students to give me a minute and let the caller know that I will call them back in 20 minutes when my class ends. Phone rang again in another 5 minutes. It was another person from the same office as the first caller. I excused myself again and told him the same thing. He insisted it can’t wait. I had wrapped up the class and was chatting with my student. I ended the zoom meeting, and took the call. The caller, an employee of management office of the complex where I live, insisted I reach main gate because there was a meeting and I am the subject of discussion. Or rather he said, what I had done that morning was the subject of discussion among committee members who represented the community and that cops have been called.

Needless to say, I was aghast but not very surprised. A world within the world is judging my actions. Cops have been called. I asked the caller if I had broken any laws. He mumbled that I had done no such thing. I then asked him for what joy was I being summoned to the meeting. He said the police want to talk to me. I asked him again, ‘what do they want to talk to me about and have I broken any laws’. He mumbled a ‘no’, and said the cops are insisting they want to talk to me about the ruckus I created at the gate that morning. That got my attention and I asked him ‘what ruckus?’. He only kept saying that cops want to talk to me. I told him that they should come to my home if there is an ongoing inquiry of any of my actions. He then handed the phone to the cop who had come to investigate. He rattled off a huge complaint ‘from a large section of the community’. The complaint reads thus: I apparently abused the guards at the main gate, threatened them with physical harm, and threatened to file a molestation complaint if they touched me or my house maid who was waiting at the gate to enter. I apparently even coerced my maid to enter.

The cop kept up the conversation for a full 8 minutes. ‘Come down to the gate’, he said. I asked him for the reason. ‘There is a complaint against me’, he said. ‘Do you have proof?’, I asked. He continued to rattle off reasons for the complaint against me. I insisted that he investigate, review proof and call me back. He asked me where my husband is. I let him know that I will consider it harassment if he inquired after my family. The complaint is against me and he must talk to me, only, specifically, I let him know. He continued to demand I reach the gate at that very moment and defend myself. But, I haven’t done anything, I said. If he has proof of my violent behavior, please find it and I will be obligated to visit the police station to defend myself. He threatened that if I didn’t get down to the gate right that very minute, he will ensure that my maid will not leave the premises. More threats. It was truly getting out of hand. I reminded him that he is a keeper of the law and that he must treat everyone with the same respect and apply law equally. I insisted he find the proof that complainants claim they have of my violent behavior. I politely, when he let me speak, suggested he get the CC TV footage and review it since the said incident happened under the watchful eye of a camera at the main gate. He abruptly said ‘OK then’, and hung up.

After another half an hour I called him back. He said that the management will be giving a written complaint along with CC TV footage.

Here is the gist of the incident. Government relaxed rules and allowed house maids to begin working for their employers from May 4, 2020. It also said that RWA (resident welfare associations) can do as needed for their communities. As has been the case with RWAs from the beginning of their existence, guidelines are stretched to suit their respective needs to maintain control. Our society does not have an elected body of representatives yet since occupancy guideline is not met. We have a few volunteers who take on the responsibility to have internal issues resolved. They decided, without consultation of the 400 families who currently live here, that no house maids will be allowed. Following are some of their arguments.

1. We can probably allow someone who is older (60years and older) to bring their maid. Anyone younger does not need a maid. — What if they are single parents, handicapped, work full-time from home and need help in the house to care for their children, and any ‘n’ number of reasons? They refused to address any of the issues. If you are 60 years or older, your maid is allowed to enter the complex. The fact that older folks are at greater risk of infection and death was not allowed to be discussed.
2. The government said that RWAs can do as needed for its community. Since it said we have the power, we will use it. We don’t need maids right now. — When they will deem maids necessary they did not say.

Beyond that there was no action plan nor an explanation of why the maids could not actually work. ‘They will bring the virus and kill us all’ is not an explanation. Virus had more likeliness to enter the community via residents themselves who have been going to work and coming back to the society, every day during the entire lockdown period.

My maid called me on May 4, 2020. As per government guidelines she is allowed to work and earn a living. She had been calling me throughout the lockdown. I assured her that I will pay her for April. Beyond that even I wasn’t sure what I would do if I couldn’t earn enough to pay my bills. She wanted to come to work she said. I called her back on May 5, 2020 and let her know that she can come to work in my house.

By now, the complex’s new block’s construction work resumed. Management office said it received permission to do so. Workers from all walks of life were entering the complex.

I presented my thoughts to the management and residents.

If construction workers are entering the complex, management office employees resumed their lives by going home and coming back to work the next day (they had been staying within the complex during the lockdown) why single out house maids who need to work to sustain their life? I also raised the point that many doctors and other employees had been going out to work from the complex and no one has quarantined them.

The answer was, without any explanation, ‘no, maids are not needed right now’.

I found that discriminatory. If we have the right to go to work and return to the complex (risk of bringing virus in to complex exists then), why not let the maids work too, especially in households that do want to take them in and provide them a salary? If some households want to wait longer, they have every right to do so and they should continue to stay in lockdown conditions, since that is what they are choosing. Why punish some section of people by refusing them work? The back lash to that argument was intense.

On May 5, 2020, my house maid came to work. She was stopped at the main gate. I spoke with the guard and explained to him that government allows maids to work. He agreed. My maid called me again and mentioned that she had gone home to bring her clothes as per guard’s instructions. She wasn’t going to be allowed to leave once she entered the complex. I told her that I will sort that out later and instructed her to complete journal entry at the gate and come to the apartment. She called again in 5 minutes. Guards were refusing to let her enter, ‘will I talk to them’, she asked. I spoke with the guard who said his higher authorities have refused her entry. I got the number from him and called the number. It was the same person who called the second time during my class and told me that cops want to meet me at the gate that afternoon. He told me that volunteer representatives of the community have decided that maids will not be allowed. He argued on and I let him know that I will reach the gate in 5 minutes to bring my maid inside and that he can meet me there if he wished to talk. When I reached the gate, he was no where to be seen. Guards were there. I called out to my maid and we walked home. Till the time we reached home neither did a guard approach us nor did we speak to anyone.

For your reference “The complaint reads thus: I apparently abused the guards at the main gate, threatened them with physical harm, and threatened to file a molestation complaint if they touched me or my house maid who was waiting at the gate to enter.”

How do we handle egos that are hurt at the first sign of a push back? How do we stroke their egos when doing the right thing is blasphemy?

I agree with all the arguments. Physical distancing is a must. But we crossed that barrier and entered a space where we must still physically distance, with precautions such as a mask, sanitization and self assessment of symptoms. Once we have entered this space, making exceptions based on class or for a section of the community randomly seemed unjust and discriminatory. The message and mandate from the government were clear. In addition, we were going to our respective offices. I applied the same rules to my house maid as well.

All hell broke loose.

Cops were called levelling false allegations. Threat 101.

Amazon package carrying my medicines arrived. I benefit from it. My rights to have what I need when I need it, once restrictions were eased on May 4th, are protected. I didn’t have to chat with Amazon agents again. I received a message this morning that my package will be delivered. Efficiency on their part, and someone on that end of the tunnel was doing the right thing allowing their employees to work and service their customers.

I only asked for the same right for my housemaid. That she be allowed and earn a living to feed her family.

I became the villain in the community, an enemy of the community and reprimanded by my own friends for risking everyone’s lives. Had I waited for another 14 days, till when all restrictions are lifted, everyone would have been safe. The virus, as far as they are concerned will magically diminish in 14 days, and the risk mitigated.

Science, principles and law were sidelined behind the veil of community management and safety. We much needed to step up to protect those who make our life possible on so many levels and failed miserably when the time came.

The Cop who spoke with me later agreed with me that rozgars (daily wage workers) cannot be stopped unless they live in the containment zone. He let me know to not worry and that I should let my maid know of the mask and sanitization practices. She was already following these practices.

My Amazon package arrived safe. We cleaned the outside of it and left it in the sun for good measure.

In just a day, with additional instructions from the district magistrate, all maids are allowed in our community, with basic safety rules in place. I am glad all the blood that flowed during the scuffle with guards bore fruit!

Here is what my maid told me — she and her family were going to starve if she didn’t get here salary this month as well. Next month will see her husband’s taxi EMI kicking in, her loan EMI will need to be paid and all the multitude of life’s demands on one’s finances will be reality she will have to face soon. Rations provided by the government were not free to her she said. She paid for her quota of rations of rice, daal and gehu. I believe her. Not all that the government announced in broad strokes has reached the needy nor have they been able to avail of the services. I am glad I was able to put her back to work, when the laws allowed. In a day, many more maids working in the complex are back to work is what I am told.

Scars will remain, ones sustained to our senses. I couldn’t convince my own friends that two weeks were not going to change the virus’ status but it was going to change how minimum wage workers are living, dying or succumbing to mental illnesses brought on/amplified by depravation of basics. If the law allows, we should let them work.

We fight for the rights not just because it serves our purpose in the moment or later. We fight because we see injustice, random rules being applied inconsistently across the board and we become aware of these happenings around us.

I was told to not be bothered and just simply wait for another two weeks. Why risk the virus? I risk infection every day I live, I move around and I interact with someone. We locked ourselves in our houses to let governments ramp up, allow hospitals to deal with fewer cases and give us all time to delay the inevitable. We still need to be mindful, on all fronts, including how we handle opening up of services and our part in it.

Allow me to tell you — I have a live-in nanny who took great care of my child and me.

I didn’t need another person to work for me. I wasn’t fighting for my convenience but for their right to earn a living while we began stepping out to make a living.

We often tend to put our needs ahead of everyone else’s despite knowing the damage we do or the ill feelings we perpetuate. We live with that knowledge and chalk it off to demands of life, and self, to preserve ‘our’ way of life. How far are we justified in that pursuit? If this lockdown has taught us one thing, it it is that we are all dependent on each other. What would we have done if a large section of the community (which in India’s case is extremely large, one that includes lower middle class and daily wage workers) refused to lockdown because they cannot live without working every single day of their lives. They gave up their sustenance, willingly or forcefully. They lost life simply trying to reach their homes. Their last few pennies are in the hands of government after having to buy train and bus tickets (while flights have been free to those being evacuated) to make the last leg of a journey home they began a month and half ago and got stuck somewhere in between. What if their lack of ‘commonsense’, the word that is being thrown around liberally, created a huge section of infected people that couldn’t have been controlled and each of us were not safe even in our homes since essentials don’t walk themselves to our homes and need to be purchased outside the comfort of our homes? Quite a few of them have no homes to hunker down in safely. Yet, they listened. ‘These’ people kept others safe, those who could hunker down in the comfort of a warm home and in the midst of loved ones, with three square meals to fill them tummies. Let’s not forget. We need them as much as they need us. Life 101.

I have not lost hope on humanity because cops were called on me nor are my spirits dampened. I witnessed humanity as its best during this time. My friends and family are among those civilians who stepped up to serve the hungry when government failed at basics. We collected money and helped out locally with rations and a few were helped with tents to have a place to live away from rain. We all did our bit. That does not mean we can judge them nor take away their basic rights.

My gratitude to my live-in nanny. Her presence allowed me to teach and ramp up my classes to earn a living since my business came to a screeching halt and my income was cut-off overnight.

A heartfelt thank you to all the frontline workers, all of them, who delivered our essentials, who treated the sick, who transported the sick, who cooked our meals, who kept the city running and to our families who ensured we all stuck together and cared for each other, easing the mental strain, and in some cases, financial strain. The unravelling might begin when stark realities of losses set in. We will talk about that when we begin hearing the stories

Till that time, stand up, speak up and protect those who need you to step in and do it. Be kind, with equitable giving.

-Kavitha.

Here is an article I published on lockdown reflections: https://medium.com/@kavikanaparthi/if-not-now-then-when-d77dda12ef12