Babu the Caretaker

The apartment is in a large compound of many buildings, kind of like at home. The units are individually owned, like condos, and the owners either live in the unit or rent it out. Obviously, Tom is renting out this unit. Just for informational purposes, the cost to buy this place would be approximately $60,000 USD. I was totally shocked by the price but I guess real estate costs no matter what country you're in.

There is a caretaker of the complex, Babu, and he is paid a small sum monthly by the Homeowner's Association (the owners of the units pay monthly HOA dues just like we do in the States) to "caretake". What I've figured out so far is that he just kind of hangs around the place, making sure there is nothing funny going on, and he also is responsible for switching on the back-up power when the electricity goes. Let me explain "back-up power" as this is NOT a generator. Back-up power means that you get a light and a ceiling fan in the bedroom and dining area when the full power goes. It is better than no power at all, but still. The last couple of days we have been having major power issues and I personally think Babu has become a bit of a slacker because there are times that the back-up power doesn't come on at all.

Anyway, the other day I was sitting at the dining table and I kept smelling something burning. This isn't unusual because these people burn trash non-stop around here, but this was a different kind of smell. Then I noticed smoke rising up over our dining balcony so I got up to investigate. When I looked over I saw Babu down there cooking. These pics were taken on two different days, one day Babu was cooking and the next day his wife was cooking. Tom had told me that Babu was the caretaker and Babu's wife does some cleaning and such for people who can pay her. Babu and his wife sleep in a little alcove under the stairs leading up to our apartment and sometimes they are joined by their adult daughter who has two kids, and their other adult daughter who doesn't have any kids.

All of their possessions are kept in this little alcove under the stairs and all of their cooking stuff is kept on the side of our building, right under our dining balcony. So, the point of this post is: no matter how bad you think you've got it and how difficult life can be for us sometimes, at least we are not living under a stair alcove and cooking our food in a make-shift fire on the side of an apartment complex building. I don't even know how these people bathe or use the bathroom, I would guess that they just go in the street like everyone else does here. So we should all be grateful for what we have, even though sometimes we feel like we want more. At least we have a decent place to sleep and cook our food.