Do you joke about “looking like a maasi” or “acting like a bhangi”?

When I said it, a hostel maid walked by. She pretended not to notice what I said but I knew she had.

Mariya Dada April 17, 2016
I love what I do for a living. I love flaunting it and I proudly call it a part of my identity. Imagine if a part of your identity was a derogatory term used to cuss, insult or degrade someone? Imagine if the words “you look like a banker/teacher/accountant/marketer” generated feelings of disgust and repulsion.

Back in college, I remember casually exclaiming, “maasi wali haalat hori hai” (I look like a maid) on my way to an exam, since I hadn’t changed my clothes nor brushed my hair.

At the same time of my, rather crude, exclamation, one of the maids in the hostel walked by, busy with her daily chores. She pretended not to notice but I cringed on the inside, almost heard the sound of a heart break. Hers or mine, I am not sure. Here was a nicely dressed lady dedicated to her work, cleaning our rooms, greeting us with smiles every day, ever-ready to help students, and above all earning an honest living.

And there I was; so insensitive, so shallow, so illiterate, despite having studied at one of the best educational institutes in the country. I realised that I had heard and was guilty of using similar phrases on numerous occasions with the intention of to joke or ridicule. This was never done out of disgust for the domestic help, but because I seem to have internalised the expression as normal and didn’t realise how hurtful my words came across. Like ‘surf’ is synonymous to detergent, maasi (maid) and bhangi (sewerage cleaners) are considered substitutes for filthy and disgusting. But the only difference between the two is that one is marketing at its best, and the other is our mentality at its worst.

Since that day in the hostel hallway, any efforts made to condemn such ‘jokes’ have been disregarded or shrugged off with another ‘joke’.

Why have occupations like jamadars (sweepers), bhangismaasis and chaprasis (peons/ junior office workers) earned so much derogation? Why is a legitimate job, one that does not violate any moral or ethical values, considered so disdainful? How ironic is it that those who are creating the mess are looking down upon on those who are cleaning up after them?

I see no shame in working a full time job so I can feed my family and send my children to school.  Why then should jamadarsbhangismaasis and chaprasis feel any different? Why should they have to feel ashamed? Anyone earning an honest living deserves to be proud of what they do - not live with their identity being used as an expletive. No hardworking, honest individual should be belittled for what they do.

Perhaps this is the way it has always been, but then again perhaps this is the time for things to change. The use of these words have been internalised to such an extent that we fail to see the effect it generates in people. What this amounts to is a false sense of pride and ego, which we neither deserve, nor have the right to extract by treating others as if they are beneath us.

This incident was my moral awakening. I hope reading this will become yours too.

At the end of the day, there is credibility in kindness not credentials.
WRITTEN BY:
Mariya Dada The author aspires to add value to life and believes in using PR to steer education, empowerment and equality. She tweets as @mariyadada
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (34)

Salim Alvi | 7 years ago | Reply Wait another 2 years, there wont be any Pakistan. Anglos created Pakistan and they cannot use it against rising China. So long they used against India to contain it. China needs India for its economic growth. Anglos will have their desperate attempt to use Paki Munna against China. Mark my words, your crore kammandus like Mush & Kiyani will sell you and China will respond by nuking GHQ. This is bound to happen. China knows where are your nukes, since they were given by China to begin with.
Jamil M Chaudri | 7 years ago Salim, as-Salaam alaikum. . I am not really worried about Hind, nor even about the diversity of Hind. Nor does anybody else in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, IRP, have such trivial concerns. What worries most Pakis is the ill treatment of Sikhs (a Punjabi people) in Hind. You see the Brutish gave 60% of the Punjab to IRP – India was left with only 40%. The Brutish are indeed a perfidious people! Don’t you agree? But that was not the end of the suffering of those Punjabis the BRUTISH treacherously HANDED over to Hind, for next the Hindi government split the Hindi Punjab into three parts: Haryana Province was created and so was Himachal Pradesh CARVED-OFF from the body of Hindi Punjab. Poor Sikhs, it was like cutting off the head (Himachal) and legs (Haryana) of the body of each Sikh! Next, when Gandhi desecrated the hallowed and sacred Harmandir Sahib (Akal Takhat) (by the way, did you know “Sahib” is an Arabic word, and “Takhat” is a Persian word?), and she was consequently sentenced to death by the Akali Dal. The sentence was carried out, but perhaps you do not know that 100’000 Sikhs lost their lives, in the slaughter that followed. In disgust and sorrow, the much decorated Kushwant Singh returned the Padma Bhushan to Hindi Government. Poor Sikhs, suffering in the land of Diversity!! Although Pakis are a Persianised people, and the Pakis should have gone back to having Persian as a National Language; but still, no native is losing his/her roots. This is why, I protested at the Punjabi word “Maasi” being defined as “lowly paid servant”. Now, you say “Christianity and Islam were invented ….”. Indeed, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are invented religions. But Salim, they were invented by GOD! The only thing is that you attribute nefarious purpose to God for this invention; and I disagree only with your attributed purpose! All the aforementioned three faiths regard God as Beneficent! (By the way, I paid my respects at the Golden Temple, in 1962. I partook of the Prasad. And did make a small donation. I also visited the Birla Temple in Delhi. The purpose of the trip was to show my Scottish wife, the Taj Mahal – one of the numerous contributions of Muslims to the Glory of India. Please remember, it was the Muslims who bestowed glory to India, the same as was done on the other side of the (then known) world: the Golden age of Spain was under Muslim rule).
Jamil M Chaudri | 7 years ago | Reply In the march lands, where a collective of people shares a border with another collective of people, abuse of the “other’s” language is quite common. Sometimes when a people conquers another people, they abuse the conquered people’s language. A historical recent example would the words “Subadar” and “Jamadar”. Both these words were used as titles in Muslim Hind. Muslim Hind used Persian/Farsi as state language, and modern Farsi (as opposed to Pahlavi) uses all Arabic substantives, as integral part of Farsi. The word “Subadar” in Muslim Hind meant “Governor of a Province”; it was a civilian title. The word “Jamadar” was used by Muslim Armies of Hind as a title for a Senior Military officer in the employ of ZIMINDAR. When the British conquered Muslim Hind, as an insult to the Muslim People, both these titles were incorporated into lower level functionaries in the British Indian Army. The titles were given to Hindi natives, and their position was lower than that of the junior most British (European) officers: a native subadar had to salute the British second lieutenant and stand at attention in from of him! ------ Returning to the subject at hand, the word Jama-dar (Arabic root: GEEM, MEEM, ‘AYN). Defining it as “weeper” (as the author of the article had done) is an insult to those brave souls who helped establish Islam in the lands of Hind; defining maasi as a maid, is an insult to the Punjabis who honour their mother’s sister (and are as peace with their mother-tongue) ; The word “bhangi” has two meaning: (1) the original meaning refers to one who take “bhang”, a narcotic; (2) a Sikh Misl, the first Sardars of which took “bhang”, the narcotic. By the way, long time ago, there was cannon, in front of Lahore Museum, which in Punjabi was called “Phangian di tope”; The Bhangi Misl, a long time ago had Bari Doab under their control.
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