She had already reached home well before it was 9 a.m. “Today is the first day that Gopi has woken up before 9 ”, the contractor told me later .. She was well groomed.,had her well oiled hair tied in a single plait, complete with flowers and all.The thick silver anklets she was wearing created an interesting sound each time she walked.Under the tree there was a small plastic wire bag which had a compact steel tiffin box and a water bottle too!. She was impatiently sitting under the neem tree waiting for her tools.
I remember the conversation the contractor had had with her the previous evening. “Amma, tomorrow morning I want you at Mylapore.It is a small job and you can finish it in less than an hour. I will ask Gopi to pick you up at around 9-30.” He was interrupted. “What? It is too late? But Gopi cannot get up before 9. Okay I will send him before 9.Do you have the tools with you?” She had left them in the site where she was working. The owner continued on his phone,” OK Gopi will bring you to Mylapore and then get your tools. So be ready by 8-30”.She must have been ready by 8-30 because she had arrived before 9 at my place.
The previous day there was some job for a plumber who had done such a work that it needed a mason to set it right. As I was discussing the damage done to my backyard wall with the contractor he tried to passify me by recounting the woes of a contractor.He wanted to distract me from the damage caused to my compound wall.”It is difficult to identify someone to repair the wall at this part of the day. It is already 6p.m. All my staff have been given their daily duty in the beginning of the week. I can’t disturb anyone . Probably I can request her to come. If she agrees nothing like it. She is a great worker”.
What was so special about her? She was the only woman who has risen to the mesthiri status , he explained. Usually women were recruited only as assistants to mason. And no one has ever dared to attain the status of a mason. But she had dared. When her husband deserted her she had two sons and two daughters to fend for. She did not lose heart. She had to go to different construction sites in search of job. At one point when a mason had ditched our contractor , he dared to give the opportunity to her and she rose to the occasion. It was an epiphanic moment for her and for him .She turned out to be such a perfect mason and her work showed the difference and she was promptly appreciated by the clients. The contractor wanted to satisfy his clents and gave her more opportunities and she never failed to impress all of them. She was paid on par with the other male masons which hurt many of them who had been with the contractor for many years. One or two even quit work.
She can never stay idle in any site. She used to get agitated if there was any scarcity of building material in the site. “She will never hesitate to call me over and over again to remind me about lack of building material..In case, for some unforeseen reason there is any delay in the supply of material and she had to waste half a day without work ,she will refuse to take payment”,.I was astounded at this mark of integrity. "Why do you want to incur loss by paying me when I have not worked", she used to question him if he offered to pay the full wages for the day though she had work for only half a day. “Even if the client pays you it is still a loss for him. No one should suffer any loss of money or time and I don’t want to be the cause for it”, she used to explain which made her unpopular among her peers. Another major problem faced by her colleagues was that she was always on time at the site and hated it if her assistants did not reach the site on time. The contractor solved this problem by giving her the freedom to recruit her own assistants.
The contractor had effectively passified me and simultaneously raised my curiosity about this magic mason.He promised to bring her the next day to rectify the damage done by his plumber. Just as I was eagerly waiting for her she had arrived.The tools also had arrived.Gopi had also remembered to bring a small bag of cement. But he had forgotten the sand. The contractor was suggesting to Gopi that he went to the nearby shop and pretended that we required just one basin of sand for pooja purposes. Otherwise no shop will permit purchase of sand in such small quantities., he explained.
When such conversation was going on she quietly went to the other side of the compound and inspected the ground.and spotted the sand that wsas spread on the walkway. I suddenly rmembereed how in the earlier tryst with another contractor I was left with two full bags of sand without any use. They dumped it in the garden because I had paid for it. I remember how I had paid another person quite a sum to just spread this sand all through the walkway .This smart woman who was there for just less than half an hour was quick to spot the sand strewn all over the walkway and promptly using a tool of hers managed to gather soon a basin full of fine sand for the small brick work.
In less than half an hour she had finshed her work.I could not but admire the finish of her work.It was like a painter working with his brush. She used different sizes of tools and seemed to have lost herself in the work. She did not get distracted by any of our conversation.When the work was over she cleaned the place meticulously and asked the supervisor where she should dump the waste material and promptly disposed it.
Meanwhile I again found myself imploring with the contractor that he should see how he can use the old motor cover to hide the new jet motor. He summarily dismissed me saying this old cover will not suit the new motor.
Fortunately for me he received a phone call and by that time she had finished all her work, packed her tools and was ready to leave. She quietly walked up to me and said “Amma, this motor cover does not sit properly on the new motor because it has been clamped to the wall in a different manner. Just ask them to cut open a portion of the cover so that it sits right .” By this time the contractor had finished his conversation on the phone and returned to me. I explained to him the idea given by her as though it was my original idea and now it was his turn to be astounded, A brilliant idea, he said and gave the job to Gopi. I had to just make one or two reminder calls and it was done. I still cannot but be awestruck by the ingenuity, integrity, commitment, and camaraderie of this first woman mason of the world.
