Tribute to Anju

I'd just like to acknowledge what a champion Anju (my cook and general helper) is.

Not only does she have to put up with fussy Mr Hussain yelling at her all the time; cooking for sometimes over 100 people on her own; killing, gutting and cutting up chickens and getting up really early every morning (amongst other things, not the least being putting up with me, the pathetic westerner, and my weird and occasionally whinging ways), but she handles all this with the most beautiful and positive attitude and ALWAYS with a smile. She is an absolute trooper.

One example was this morning, when I woke up and began my usual routine of filling a saucepan with cold water and putting it on the stove to heat up for my morning bucket bath, and realised that there was no gas in my cylinder. I was already running late for work and as the minutes ticked by, I became more and more horrified at the impending possibility of not being able to have my morning coffee.

I called out to Anju in the hope that she could save me from this terrible ordeal and heat up some water for me on Mr Hussain’s stove. I went back into my room to send my other saviour, Nizam, a text message to tell him I needed a new gas cylinder. A couple of minutes later, I looked out my window, only to find Anju happily stoking a FIRE using dried palm fronds, with my saucepan sitting atop an interesting arrangement of bricks. Apparently Mr Hussain’s gas cylinder had run out too. Whatever it takes, this girl will do it with a smile. And, to prove just how tough she is, once the water was boiling, she picked up a couple of leaves to use as “oven mits” and walked the 20 metres to my bathroom to pour it into the bucket.

The new gas cylinder was easier to organise than I thought – it was literally delivered about 10 minutes after I’d messaged Nizam. And Anju, who had gone to all that trouble with the fire, was still smiling when she realised that all her hard work had been for nothing. She even swept the corner, behind where the old cylinder was, before the new one was put in.