HYDERABAD: Do you leave keys with neighbours when gas cylinder is expected? Do you receive all your couriers on the office address as nobody is there to receive them at home? Worse still, how many women have quit jobs as there is no one to take care of children?

With the concept of joint families becoming obsolete and more women working, the demand for professional agencies that help recruit domestic servants has grown manifold.

This industry is very organised in other metros. However, itis yet to catch up in Hyderabad.

Migrant population

Many local residents get maids from their native places but the crunch is felt the most by migrant population.

A housewife and mother of two children, Aditi Gupta, gets her maid from Delhi, but finds it very inconvenient to go there every 11 months, which is their contract period.

There are other issues too as an elderly housewife Jyoti Goswami explains: "The ones coming from outside throw lots of tantrums knowing the employers don't have a choice."

Big issue

Linguistic problem is another issue. Another working woman, Lily Chatterjee, sales manager of Hewitt Packard, rues the fact that her maid does not know any other language apart from Telugu.

"They should know one more language apart from the local language, at least Hindi is a must."

In the absence of any such facility, she says: "Maids have become an essential part of all working moms' lives." While she feels there is no foolproof solution, an organised system will definitely help.

Other cities

The city could follow the example of other places like Chennai.

N. Amrita Panindra, who runs Chennai Job Service told The Hindu , "We check the background of maids, confirm their address, take finger prints, photos and a copy of their ration cards before they are employed in any house."

There are a few agencies in Hyderabad but since they do not have a local network, they are not a viable solution.

One such organisation is CARE that gets maids from Kolkata.

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