It is an year-old event but it is still fresh in my memory. As a housekeeping staff at Henkel India’s guest house at Goregoan, my day starts with regular cleaning and other maintenance work at the guest-house; this is followed by assisting the cook in the kitchen. All these years, I never felt there was a need to learn any other language other than Oriya (mother tongue). But after landing in Mumbai from my home-town (Orissa), I felt the need to learn and speak in Hindi but English was still a distant dream.
One morning, after my regular cleaning work, I went to the kitchen to assist the cook. And there… I was all alone with the entire responsibility of the kitchen. I was elated but on the other hand I was also nervous. I was rather worried because of my inability to handle English.
Yes, the telephone rang. I turned cold in the warm kitchen, my mouth went dry and I was blank. I did not know what to say, if the guest placed an order. I still attended to the call. The order was for ‘buttermilk’, a word I have not heard before. So I checked with him if it was milk that he had ordered. The guest repeated buttermilk and this time I heard butter. I was confused, still took the order. As the cook was not available on site nor were his colleagues, my doubts were left uncleared. I thought it was safe to offer a glass of water instead of taking butter or milk to the guest’s room.
As I was leaving the kitchen, the cook came in. He saw my baffled look and started questioning. While I was explaining to him about my dilemma, I saw the cook having a hearty laugh. He clarified that the order was for buttermilk and not for water. That’s when I realised how important it was to converse in English.”