In the Punjab and North-West a house containing dining-
room, drawing-room, two bedrooms, dressing-rooms, bath-
rooms, and verandahs, with suitable servants’ accommodation,
may be had from Rs. 40 to 80 per mensem. In most cases
the landlord keeps up the garden in a perfunctory way, but
this is seldom satisfactory. By far the best plan is to arrange,
at a slight reduction in rent, that the landlord shall only
supply bullocks to work the well twice or three times a week,
while you keep and pay for the gardener. The landlord is
bound to keep his house in habitable and sanitary repair, to
whitewash the outside once a year, the inside every two years.
There are no taxes, except in some cantonments a very trifling
fee for clearing away refuse.
Housekeeper and Cook 37
Xlie number of serVcUits can scarcely be reduced below
seven. Bearer and valet, Rs. 10. Cook, Rs. 14. (Though many
people give cooks Rs. SO and Rs. 40 because they can cook a
few indigestible entrees, a perfectly good cook can still be
had for Rs. 14.) Upper Khiimutgdr, Rs. 10. Under ditto or
Musolchi, Rs. 6 to 8. Water-carrier, Rs. 6. Washerman, Rs. 10.
Sweeper, Rs. 6.
Many ladies manage without an ayah or female servant ;
but if one is necessary, she is generally, in small establish-
ments, the sweeper’s wife, and a wage of Rs. 8 is given.
Without the ayah this brings the total to about Rs. 65 a
month. This represents the total cost of the house servants.
They find their own food, and houses are provided for them
by the landlord. If it is desired still further to reduce the
servants, this can be done by combining the duties of upper
/c/iit and bearer by giving them to a Mahomedan who will do
both works. But any arrangement involving the necessity
for more underlings is to be deprecated, such as the employ-
ment of that unpresentable drudge a chakra (lad) or matey
(assistant). The musolchi, or torchman, so called in most
Presidencies, is quite enough in the way of anomalous do-
mestics, and even his duties vary so enormously, that it seems
likely he is a vestige of prehistoric times who — when his real
occupation dissolved into darkness with the invention of
hurricane lanterns— remained on in the house as general
servant and substitute. As a rule, the fewer domestics you
have the better they will perform their duties. Nothing, in
fact, upsets the smooth working of a household like too much
leisure or a too minute division of responsibility. Above
all, nothing is more insensate than the multiplication of
Ichitmutgars. If a man cannot wait on six people, he is not
worth keeping as a table attendant. But, with the curious
perversity which characterises so many Indian customs, one
often sees three table servants waiting on two people, while
the whole cleansing work of a large, dusty, dilapidated Indian
bungalow is left to one man, who is also scavenger, dog man,
poultry man,and general scapegoat. The authors’ advice there-
fore is — Cut down the table servants and ina'ense the sweepers.
The bazaar account varies enormously according to the
housekeeping : this is even more true nowadays than it used
to be. Briefly, the bazaar account may still, for two people,
38 The Complete Indian
Page 24
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
In the Punjab and North-West a house containing diningroom, drawing-room, two bedrooms, dressing-rooms, bathrooms, and verandahs, with suitable servants’ accommodation, may be had from Rs. 40 to 80 per mensem. In most cases the landlord keeps up the garden in a perfunctory way, but this is seldom satisfactory. By far the best plan is to arrange, at a slight reduction in rent, that the landlord shall only supply bullocks to work the well twice or three times a week, while you keep and pay for the gardener. The landlord is bound to keep his house in habitable and sanitary repair, to whitewash the outside once a year, the inside every two years. There are no taxes, except in some cantonments a very trifling fee for clearing away refuse.
Housekeeper and Cook 37
The number of servants can scarcely be reduced below seven. Bearer and valet, Rs. 10. Cook, Rs. 14. (Though many people give cooks Rs. SO and Rs. 40 because they can cook a few indigestible entrees, a perfectly good cook can still be had for Rs. 14.) Upper Khiimutgdr, Rs. 10. Under ditto or Musolchi, Rs. 6 to 8. Water-carrier, Rs. 6. Washerman, Rs. 10. Sweeper, Rs. 6.
Many ladies manage without an ayah or female servant ; but if one is necessary, she is generally, in small establishments, the sweeper’s wife, and a wage of Rs. 8 is given. Without the ayah this brings the total to about Rs. 65 a month. This represents the total cost of the house servants. They find their own food, and houses are provided for them by the landlord. If it is desired still further to reduce the servants, this can be done by combining the duties of upper /c/iit and bearer by giving them to a Mahomedan who will do both works. But any arrangement involving the necessity for more underlings is to be deprecated, such as the employment of that unpresentable drudge a chakra (lad) or matey (assistant). The musolchi, or torchman, so called in most Presidencies, is quite enough in the way of anomalous domestics, and even his duties vary so enormously, that it seems likely he is a vestige of prehistoric times who — when his real occupation dissolved into darkness with the invention of hurricane lanterns— remained on in the house as general servant and substitute. As a rule, the fewer domestics you have the better they will perform their duties. Nothing, in fact, upsets the smooth working of a household like too much leisure or a too minute division of responsibility. Above all, nothing is more insensate than the multiplication of Ichitmutgars. If a man cannot wait on six people, he is not worth keeping as a table attendant. But, with the curious perversity which characterises so many Indian customs, one often sees three table servants waiting on two people, while the whole cleansing work of a large, dusty, dilapidated Indian bungalow is left to one man, who is also scavenger, dog man, poultry man,and general scapegoat. The authors’ advice therefore is — Cut down the table servants and increase the sweepers.
The bazaar account varies enormously according to the housekeeping : this is even more true nowadays than it used to be. Briefly, the bazaar account may still, for two people,
38 The Complete Indian