At a Luxury Complex in India, the Maids and the Madams Go to War<br />That has changed, however, as luxury high-rises proliferated in farmlands on the outskirts of New Delhi,<br />and slum neighborhoods appeared beside them, in what Ms. Lahiri called “a perfect setup for an us vs. them clash.”<br />In the case of Harshu Sethi and her maid, Johra Bibi, in Noida on Wednesday, the clash was Alfred Hitchcock-grade,<br />awakening subterranean anxieties about the true relationship between the rich and the poor.<br />Why do they have everything?’ They envy us, and this is how it comes out.”<br />Ms. Bibi, the maid, had a different take on the relationship, saying Ms. Sethi had not paid her<br />3,500 rupees, or about $55, for the past two months, and had falsely accused her of stealing.<br />Though they may resent their treatment, maids are typically afraid to lose their jobs,<br />and of the “pull their employers may have with the authorities,” said Tripti Lahiri, the author of “Maid in India: Stories of Inequality and Opportunity Inside Our Homes.”<br />Conflicts between domestic workers and employers are a regular feature of Indian crime logs, but mass violence is almost unheard-of, Ms. Lahiri said.
