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When Lebaran is approaching, panic usually befall the housewife. Away for one week! Who has invented that kind of a leave? Why do they all want to go back to their village? Look how the traffic is! People getting crushed is buses or trains and what will happen when a boat is overloaded? I would not like to travel like that! These are the comments and questions we often hear. Some would try to discourage their servants not to join the exodus by mentioning the hazards. Others would offer higher pay for the work during the holidays.
I must admit that I too have used all the tricks, but they were all to no avail. Go home they must and no threat or bribe could make them change their minds. But now I am able to see it from another light. Why would they brave all the hardships just to go back to their beloved village to be with their family? It is in fact not so strange at all. In the United States and Canada, people travel miles to be home for Thanksgiving and wasn't it Bing Crosby, who used to sing "I'll be home for Christmas" ?
Just look at your servants eyes when they are back from her mudik, our term for going back to our village. They never look so happy. It is as if they have participated in the Xgames and have won the competition. They have made it in spite of all the potential dangers! Mudik have lately become an excitement with no comparison. It is like the young girls cramming a shopping mall to get an autograph from a movie star with the risk of being trampled to death.
And now, with all the servants how do the people in the big city fare? I made some sidak (unexpected visits) to my friends houses just to find out how much they suffer from the absence of their crew.
The first "victim" was my neighbor Nora who appeared not to be home, for my incessant ringing at her gate, was not answered. When I saw light in the evening I tried to phone her but again to no avail. Worried I tried her mobile and was happy to hear her voice,
"So were you trying to snoop in on me? Ha, ha, I am here in the Borobudur hotel, in the comfort of one of their bridal suites and at present enjoying a marvellous dinner from the room service! The lights? Well that comes from those ingenious inventions, that switch lights on and off at certain times automatically. Just an attempt to cheat potential thugs!"
Well, I should have known. Nora goes into hiding in a hotel suite several times a year, and this time is of course no exception.
The next victim was Wanda, who welcomed me happily.
"Oh, I am so relaxed to be home alone. Finally I feel that my house is my own property."
She is a good cook, so I was sure she would survive, but she was busy in the garden gathering the fallen leaves. Then she started a fire to burn the garbage, according to the instructions of the Governor. However it was an unsuccesful attempt after the heavy rains from before Lebaran.
The happiest person is evidently Mia, who could make herself happy even at times of frustration.
"Come in," she invited me, "don't look at the mess, my house looks like a sunken ship after the grandchildren have left. I am usually very fussy about neatness when the servants are here. I insist that they mop the floor at least once a day and tidy up everything. But now the floor has not been mopped for as many days that they have been away and the mess? Just close your eyes and you'll feel just as happy."
She had been cooking long before Lebaran when there was still somebody to go to the market for her, slice the onions and garlic, grind the chili, grate the coconut and do all the errands that she does not like. Proudly she showed me her freezer, which looked like one in the supermarket: full of trays filled with TV dinners. The she whisered in my ears: "Even my husband does not object eating this food." And then loudly: "Hey why don't you stay for lunch, we have plenty of home cooked food and fruit and even desert. My friends had sent me the Christmas gifts early, so now I have fresh fruits, cake, pudding, just help yourself."
During the meal we discussed the pros and cons of getting a replacement. "Don't get one, I tell you," she said excitedly, "you know, Tita got one and one day she overheard a phone call from this woman to a friend: 'There is nothing I can steal here, everything is fitted with an alarm.' Tita immediately packer her up and sent her back to the agency. Another friend of mine complained that her replacement could not work at all, but she tried to borrow money all the time. These people just come to work to get rich quick and do nothing!"
A few days later I visited Mia again and saw that her house has been cleaned and the floor has been mopped. What happened? Did she get a replacement after all?
"No", she cried out, "it is just that my servants are coming back this evening and I cleaned up to show them, that I actually do not need them. I too can clean my house without any help. Can I get a lift from you to go to the salon? I need a massage and a hairwash, so I will look fresh and relaxed before they are here!"
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