From The Peopling of New York City
Hosiar Appa is a domestic worker, hired as a nanny, to a suburban household along the MetroNorth. She lives around Jackson Heights and is undocumented. The interview was held in broken English, Hindi, and translation.
Lakshman Kalasapudi: What are your working conditions?
Hosiar Appa: Very very bad. The lady I work for is “crazy”. She says bad, mean things to me. They are Bangladeshi like me. The husband is an IBM executive! I work thirteen hours a day from seven am to night. My pay is $350 a week. If I had my documents, I would get $500 a week, but my employers know that I don’t have papers, so they pay me less. They hired me as a nanny to watch the kids, but they make me do everything else from cleaning to cooking to housekeeping. I have to cook spicy for the parents, non-spicy for the kids. I have to cook everything from breakfast to dinner.
LK: How is your relationship with the kids?
HA: They love me very much. I love them very much too. They call me “Papa” because my nickname is Parul. No matter what fight I get into with the parents, I will always be nice to the kids. They are my “best friends”. In fact, they ask their mother, “Why are you fighting with Papa?”
LK: What do you think about your situation?
HA: You know, my attitude to life is “take it easy”. My life is critical though. I am responsible and patient – I deserve better. I spoke to a Denver Senator this morning all by myself! But I’ll lose my job if they know I’m into these politics. I think god tests us. Who is Hindu, Muslim, Christian is no more – but it’s god. And god knows what you are [referring to the lady employer]. I should not have to go through all of this. After all, this is an immigrant country! “Nobody is American”.
LK: Tell me a little bit about your family.
HA: I have one daughter. She is married and has two children. She lives in Canada with her family. I strongly believe in education – “educated people are smarter”. My husband wanted to get her married off after 8th standard back in Bangladesh, but I said no! That’s why I am working – for her. I put her through college and she studied political science and anthropology at Hunter. There she met her husband who completed his bachelors and masters in economics in four years! They cannot come to the US to visit me because they do not have visas and they are settling in Canada. I think my daughter’s husband is going to work in a bank. His name is _____, look for his thesis at Hunter!
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