For the comfort of others

Akash Bisht follows the lanes and bylanes of Delhi to track those who make the city tick

I first met Suraj when he came to my house looking for a job as a domestic help. At that time, I did not need a new help. A few months later I saw him waiting at a bus stop, listening to music on his mobile phone. He recognised me, turned off the music and greeted me with a smile. Out of curiosity, I asked him if he had found a job. He said he had, he has been doing domestic chores for a household and also stays with them.
At that time, however, I was looking for a domestic help and asked him if he was willing to work with me. He smiled and said he hardly gets any time to himself. He narrated to me his daily schedule - "I wake up at four in the morning and then take the dog out for a walk. After that I cook breakfast and pack lunch for the family of four. That takes me about two hours. Once members of the household leave for work or school, I have to clean the house and wash clothes." He was still smiling and told me that after all that is done, he is too tired to do anything else and so relaxes for a while, listening to music. Then he cooks lunch for the kids, who he says are brats who bully him most of time over petty things. "One is in high school and the other one is in college. I fear the younger one. He is a bully who beats and hurls abuses at me for no rhyme or reason." He is not smiling anymore. I ask him why he does not complain to his employers. He says they don't care as he is just a servant.
Once the children are done with lunch they sleep while he cleans the kitchen and then takes a bath and washes his clothes. By the time he is done, his employers return and he has to serve them tea and cook some snacks. After that, he again has to clean the kitchen and start preparing dinner while the family settles down in front of the TV. "I go to bed at midnight. I listen to some music on my phone and go off to sleep, to wake up at four again," he told Hardnews.
With sadness written all over his face, he revealed that he is not allowed to watch TV and spends most of his time either cooking or washing. He has to buy most of the household items, but besides that is not allowed to go outside. "When my employers are out of the house they call every 15 minutes to check if I am home. The only chance I get to go out is when I take the dog for a walk or go to the market to buy vegetables. I see children playing in the neighbourhood but I have no option. When I talk about playing I am asked to get back to work," he reveals.
He is only 15 years old and has been working as a domestic help for more than eight years. He is a Nepali but was born in India. He has never met his parents. His mother returned to Nepal a few months after he was born to live with his father. They never came to India again and he could not get a chance to go to Nepal, although he still sends his parents some money every month. I asked him if he misses his parents and he says, "I haven't seen them so I don't miss them much but when I cry I think of my mother. I sometimes feel very lonely and feel like going back home but if I go back then we would have no source of income."
He earns a mere Rs 2,000 for all the work he does and has been asking for a raise for quite some time. I wanted to change the subject so I started discussing music with him. He is a fan of Himesh Reshammiya and has most of his songs on his second-hand mobile phone which he bought from a friend. His phone is his only source of entertainment and he holds on to it even when he is asleep.
He wanted to discuss more music with me but his bus arrived. As we parted, he shook my hands and I noticed he had a heart tattoo on his wrist with his name inked inside it.

This is second of a 12-part series