"The maid got so fed up that she just absconded to her village and never came back."
BookMyBai, the go-to website for hiring maids and servants in Mumbai, has decided to ban Bollywood stars from using their services.
In what comes as a surprising announcement, BookMyBai’s co-founder Anupam Sinhal released a blog on the company website explaining his drastic decision.
Throughout the blog post, Sinhal highlights the abuse and harassment that the maids and servants endured from Bollywood stars.
The anonymous celebrities would refuse to pay the fee charged by BookMyBai. Anupam Sinhal even claimed they physically abused the helpers.
The examples detailed by the website’s co-founder paint a disturbing image of how Bollywood treats its maids and servants. He gives five key examples of the Bollywood stars who did this and hides their true identities.
Celebrity 1 initially wished to pay below the minimum wage for their servant, despite living in a big house. While the celebrity agreed to a negotiation, she then refused to allow the servant to travel to Bihar for their mother’s last rites.
Mr Sinhal revealed: “We promised to send a replacement on Monday and requested her to release the helper since he has to go for his mother’s last ritual. Guess what! She did not. She could not care less.”
The servant ended up missing their mother’s last rites.
But, this meant nothing compared to the havoc that Celebrity 2 waged on her helpers. She went through multiple helpers, with them only lasting between 7-10 days. The co-founder explained: “The extent of torture and harassment to the maids was so high that we replaced maids 7 times.”
Celebrity 3 physically abused her servant, with Anupam Sinhal describing it as a daily ordeal.
“As soon as we got to know, we asked the maid to leave as soon as possible. When she came to our office, we could see physical marks on her body of physical abuse.”
A Disturbing Picture of Bollywood
Similarly, Celebrity 4 verbally abused her servant, to the point that as Mr Sinhal stated: “Verbal and physical abuse was a part of her daily routine. The maid got so fed up that she just absconded to her village and never came back.”
Finally, Celebrity 5 seemed to take a maid away from the company! The co-founder claimed: “She refused to pay us our service charges. BookMyBai charges about Rs. 15000 [approx. £181] for a live-in maid.
“She infact told us that if we call her again then she would file a case of harassment and extortion with the crime branch. CRIME BRANCH! Wow!”
In the blog post, Sinhal states that before these celebrities, BookMyBai had never experienced so many problems with their clients. They delivered a good service and handled problems properly.
However, these cases had made a strong impression on the co-founder.
He concluded: “For BookMyBai, the safety and security of our domestic help is the highest priority. We are fine if we do not earn money from a certain employer. The least that we expect is that he/she can treat a person like a human should be treated.
“I also hope the legal system of this country improves for the better so that these ladies who work as a domestic help feel empowered and do not feel scared to report a case of abuse.”
The blog post has generated a huge response. Many readers commented in support of the company.
For example, one reader identified as Nikhita said: “Thank-you for highlighting these shocking and disgusting attitudes of Btown celebs. It’s absolutely shocking and unbelievable. And all new low for them.[sic]”
BookMyBai appeared to have handled the cases reasonably and professionally, in complete contradiction to how the stars handled them. That people have commented favourably towards the company is no surprise.
Therefore, one can understand why the business have decided to ban Bollywood stars from ever using their service again.
Hopefully, this will force the stars in question and others to think about how they treat their maids and servants in future. Check out the whole blog post here.
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