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Book Review: Author Payal Kapadia’s comical ode to the house help of our dreams
Comical yet relatable, author Payal Kapadia’s Maidless in Mumbai is an interesting take on the search of the perfect house help.
This book is a tale of every middle- and upper-middle class woman. Why? Because it tells a universal tale. Isn’t it a truth universally acknowledged that an urban woman with a dream of a peaceful life must be in want of a suitable maid? If you are a career-oriented, ambitious women living in a nuclear family, your freedom to pursue it depends on a maid even more.
This leads to maidomania — the obsession to find that ever elusive perfect house help. In her comical-yet- relatable book, Maidless in Mumbai, Payal Kapadia narrates the tale of a journalist, also a new mom. As she manages to not buckle under the work pressure, life pressure and the pressure of being a new mom, she pins her hopes on the maid who will salvage her from the chaotic life. Kapadia’s witty writing is also a satire on our dangerously maid-dependent condition, as well as the luxury that is available only to men —the luxury of not getting affected. The book is light- hearted, relatable and a quick read, for the most part, though it drags a bit at points.
