Invisible Hands, Forgotten Lives: The Story Behind a Bengaluru Paying Guest (PG)
Image Source: Tech in Asia
Behind the dining hall in a PG near Christ University Bannerghatta Road campus, in a corner below the stairs, is a dark and small space where a Nepali married couple, Mira and Rajat Damai, live. It is not a linen closet, but may be mistaken as one, in which they are living. It is a non-ventilated bathroom-sized room with no privacy and lacking dignity. No bathroom, of course, no other door, but only a curtain that falls between the kitchen and their resting mat, and separates sounds and smells of that other space. This area has been their home and their voice for eight months. Meera and Rajat are caretakers of the PG where over 40 students reside. They wash the plates and glasses, clean the rooms and wash them, repair the light bulbs, cook and serve food, and make sure every resident returns to their house safely by the end of the day.
But, at the end of their busy day, they are not returned to rest. They are smothered into a nameless corner with no space, no sound, no identity. After clearing up during lunch, on a steel counter, Meera says, “We are not afraid of hard work, you know it is the only way. We have no space of our own, however.” The room of the couple leads straight into the communal eating area. The dishwashing area is placed outside. “My problem is that there is no toilet in the room I share, nor near the room,” said Meera. At some point, even the old warden had denied them the privilege to use the communal washroom.
Their timetable is harsh. Washing the plates is the last activity of the day, and it is at 11 PM. They are not given a free day on Sundays; it is only a bit less workload, says Meera. Even illness does not allow them to rest. “We go to work even when we are sick because we do not have any other option.” This forces Meera to work an additional job, although she has a full-time job. Her day involves cooking and cleaning at one of the neighbouring homes after breakfast till 1 PM, when she comes back to start with the lunch preparation at the PG. She says, “Our salary is insufficient because everything is expensive.”
In a PG near the Bannerghatta Main Road, Nargis, a 38-year-old single mother who hails from West Bengal, must prepare morning tea, serve lunch, and clean rooms on four floors. The pay she receives is Rs. 7,000 a month with no day off. In case of a break demanded by her, Rs. 200 gets deducted. “I came to Bangalore and I thought that it would be better than the job in the factory. Well, at least there we had a chair to sit in,” she said.
The overall obstacle is language. They are not fluent in Hindi or English. Rajat says, “People do not always speak very well to us.” As polite as the students may be, there is always a feeling among the Damais that they are out of place at a place they are striving tirelessly to keep. They are crucial in the PG, but hardly present. They are in the back – they prepare food, clean up rooms, and wash toilets, but somehow they are not part of the space they are helping to maintain. Meemansa Prasad is a second-year undergraduate student who admits, “They are the backbones of this place. But they are people, with families, with health issues, and we usually do not keep them in mind.”
In another PG in Pai Layout, Rajan, a soft-spoken 50-year-old man of Jharkhand origin, resides next to the entrance under the stairway. His beddings are made up of a roll-up mattress. His head is facing a wall clock, and it is placed just to receive guests. “I go to sleep with one ear open at night. There are cases when people request me to take water bottles in the middle of the night at 2 AM,” he says. The management of the PG calls him chowkidar, but Rajan prepares food, removes plumbing blocks, orders food out of restaurants when Zomato is already delayed, and sweeps the lawn in the mornings. “I do all things. However, here I do not have an ID card. No nameplate even,” he adds.
In spite of all the hard work (15 hours each day), the Damais lack a written contract. Medical insurance does not exist, no sick leave, no legal security. What they do is needed, yet it is unofficial; they have no rights. The situation in which they find themselves is not a unique case, but a larger trend. In cities like India, thousands of live-in workers are exposed to exploitation, underpayment, and overworking just like Meera and Rajat. It is the same story that can be heard in multiple PGs, in different corners: it is about workers who are not hired; it is about workers who are to work 24 hours a day; it is about workers who are not seen until some accident happens.
Their socioeconomic status, coupled with their Dalit identity and status as migrants, places them at the bottom of an unseen hierarchy. Clean rooms, tasty food, and hushed service seem to be a convenient thing to have for PG residents, but it is at the cost of people. The new PG is still only a step away when it comes to the old discriminatory schemes, as we may wish to think.
India has to face the invisible labour that holds up its way of life in cities. Be it house helpers, package delivery warriors, or PG custodians, the question is, are we building cities that operate to serve the majority and not only the rich? As long as we are not willing to look into these questions, our convenience may be postponed at a time when it will cost us the lives of people whom we will hardly see.
About Author: Tanushri Menon and Shreya Gupta are second-year students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Journalism at Christ University, Bengaluru. Tanushri enjoys exploring ideas through creative projects and is often drawn to stories that linger quietly, finding inspiration in books, films, and music. Shreya engages in news writing, photography, and feature reporting, and actively contributes to campus publications. Together, they bring a thoughtful and grounded approach to storytelling, shaped by academic training, field assignments, and a shared commitment to highlighting underrepresented voices.
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