Essay: This Side Of The Counter
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In this essay, Deborah Shastri explores class, labor, and privilege overlapping morality, education, and aspiration in the South Asian context.
The girl that comes to our house to do my mother’s facials lives in a single room with 7 other girls employed by the same salon-at-home company. She makes 10 thousand rupees per month with housing and food provided. The 7 girls share one bathroom between them with three girls showering at the same time to make it to their appointments on time. Priya – the girl – came here from a small village in Lucknow. She has a sweet disposition. Even when my mother loudly proclaims her living situation for my benefit. The disposition of someone who knows how to be happy with nothing.
