I would be hard pressed to find a more profound reflection on Labour Day than the one posted by the Instagram handle @bakeryprasad. It’s a moving deliberation on how the Indian caste-influenced mentality doesn’t merely disrespect most forms of labour but actively invisibilises them. It reminded me of my time in Delhi as a single woman who needed domestic help. I appreciated that the woman who worked at my apartment demanded an annual salary increment. One year, I decided to ask people I knew who had full-time and part-time domestic help how much they were paying. It turned out I was allegedly ‘overpaying’ my maid for the basic services—brooming, mopping and doing the dishes. I had even offered my help the possibility of taking Sundays off, but she had refused. Her logic was that no one else gives her the weekend off, so it didn’t make sense for her to not come to just one house. I could see why it would be easy for me to manage without any help over the weekend but would be difficult for someone with a larger family. Still, I wondered how her own family managed in her absence? This is the irony of how labour works in India—so many mothers tend to have to take care of other children so they can afford to feed their own.

It is completely normal in India to bargain with people, especially careworkers, about their salaries. While most middle-class people feel entitled to negotiate their contracts with their higher-ups, expecting a certain minimum in terms of sick and casual leave, medical insurance and a net income, we do not extend these privileges to unskilled or deskilled workers in our employ. When these workers don’t show up or take off without warning, we act surprised by their betrayal, as if their loyalty was a given. Whether we admit it or not, most middle-class employers do expect slave-like allegiance from the people they hire and are committed to maintaining caste and class hierarchies. I don’t know how many times I witnessed families practising segregation at restaurants. The usually affluent family is generally seated at one table while the nannies sit at another. There’s a deep commitment, in fact, to maintaining the status quo. We don’t really strive for anything radically different. Part of how caste and class privilege are maintained is by undervaluing the work we pay for. Another way is by not really ‘seeing’ the labour, therefore not acknowledging it.