[Reader-list] The Story of Vaishali Madve and my concerns about Private Security

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

The Story of Vaishali
(And my security concerns!)

Mom was facing a crisis of a maidservant. Our home faces this crisis once
every three or four years. But perhaps this time, the crisis was a little
graver than what we had imagined. Slum dwellers and all have been moved
from the railway lines and the pavements near our home. And they have been
relocated and rehabilitated in New Bombay. One such dweller is Vaishali
Madve. On the recommendation of the sweeper in our building, we hired her.

Vaishali is about 16 years old. She was living in the slums somewhere in
our area till she was rehabilitated to Vashi. She was given a proper house
there. Vaishali is young and fashionable. She is also a very hard worker.
But somehow, I never liked her. Dad was also against her. But mom liked
her work. So Vaishali stuck on. Mom was making her stick on. However,
soon, Vaishali started bunking. She needed money everyday in order to be
able to commute. And mom is against handing out money from the salary
everyday. Anyhow 


Once, Vaishali bunked work for three days at a stretch. We thought she was
gone till she showed up on the fourth day. On that day, mom had an
argument with her and warned her. That day, Vaishali was furious and
angry. And that day, I was to attend a high level meeting and was very
well dressed up for it all. I entered the kitchen to say bye to mom and
Vaishali stared at me up and down. I did not like this in the least bit.
As I walked out of the door, I felt a sudden pang of fear. ‘What if wealth
had showed up on me too much? And what if this showing up raised new ideas
in Vaishali’s mind? And what if she decided to murder my mother, to stab
her?’ I had a terrible time battling with myself. In the evening, unable
to resist, I phoned my mother to check up on how she was. Mum was all
well.

All these days, I have been at Nariman Point and questioning notions of
private security. I wonder why residents have been employing private
security on public spaces. A few days ago, I met up with Gitanjali.
Gitanjali has lived at Churchgate for about two years. She spoke of her
experiences, “My landlady would tell me not to come late at night. She was
concerned about people noticing me in the lanes and following me up to the
house. She was concerned about her safety and security.” And Bhakti, a
resident of Marine Drive had said to me, “You have to know that a lot of
old and rich people live in Marine Drive and Churchgate area. After the
murder of a wealthy lady by her servant in this area and then subsequent
crimes against senior citizens, residents in this area became security
conscious.”

While I definitely believe that there are other nuances to the issue of
private security and public fear, here are the questions that I have
today:

·	What is this transition from private space to public space or the
reverse for that matter?
·	Is it legal/rightful to restrict access of certain peoples to public
spaces?
·	Who is the public in the case of a public space?
·	Is publics homogenous?
·	Do owners of residents/private spaces in and around a public space have
greater stakes in the public space (not just vis-à-vis concerns of
security)?

Post-Script to the Story of Vaishali:
Vaishali no longer works with us. She had been bunking work too much.
Pushpa now works in our home. And Pushpa narrated the story of Vaishali.
“Vaishali is young. Her father is a drunkard and he beats her everyday and
steals money from her. That is why she needed money everyday to come to
work. She is young and loves to socialize and party. She has desires. That
is why she refuses to take a full time job and does only part-time work so
that she has the evenings to herself. She loves to dress up and be
stylish. Obviously, what more do you expect of a 16-year old?”



Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes