It did not take me very long to realise how fortunate I was to have such a well paid job in the Middle East with a free house and free fuel and no tax to pay. As I lived and worked in the same town I had minimal travel and was home every night, unlike my previous life in the UK. At home I had a two bedroom house to myself and I created a lovely garden. Some expats in the Middle East spend their money on booze and flashy cars but I decided to stay sober and rent a cheap car. Whilst I saved a lot for my retirement I still had money spare and spent it on looking after those less fortunate than me.
Some money I sent to the Philippines to the various kids I support through school and college ( Aimea, Jhoanna, Grecil, TJ and Kit). Other money went to people struggling through COV 19 ( Rodel and Rhoda) and some to people who needed money for the formalities involved in getting a new job ( Jeff twice and Rodel) . More recently I have helped put new roofs over the heads of TJ and her family and Adam following the devastation caused by Typhoon Odette.
In another blog I talked about how I supported my Thai friends in Bahrain ( Kiti Ki, Kingpromtu , Bew , Phum and Oak) when they had no work or money through COV 19 for 18 months. In the past I have mentioned the friends I support back in Thailand like Wanchai, Way and Top. Then of course there are all my Pinoy houseboys I feed and give work to.
In this blog I want to talk about our two Indian Janitors at work - Rakesh (23) and Suresh. They work 6 and a half days a week from 6 am to 6 pm , and live 6 to a room in 3 bunk beds. Their kitchen has 4 gas rings and that is for 12 people. Each person uses 2 rings ( rice and curry) and as it takes 30 mins to cook their food each night the last one has to wait 3 hours before he can cook. In their 12 hours off between 6 pm and 6 am they have to cook, eat , wash their clothes and sleep.
I had taken them curry to work before but decided, as I was leaving, to invite them to my house for a special curry meal. As they are from Gujarat and are vegetarian I consulted my Indian Recipes from Rehana and found some that would be suitable. I then spent two days preparing their food. First I made Tomato and egg curry
Then you cook Cumin seeds, Mustard seeds and Kari leaves in hot Canola oil. Make sure you put the lid on as the mustard seeds pop, then remove from the heat and add the onions so the other ingredients do not burn, and return to the heat.
Once its cooked place the halved hard boiled eggs on top like so....
Next we worked on the bean curry which I made in two batches as I ran out of beans! Jake helped with the last batch snapping off the top and the tail of the beans before chopping them into 1 cm lengths. Again you get the oil really hot and then add the mustard seed, onion, garlic, chili's and beans like so....
The third vegetarian food we cooked was Dal which even the Filipinos liked! You just mix the two types in a bowl, soak it and cook with chilies, very easy!
We also made a chicken curry for my Kabayan and Raita and a Banana yogurt and cinnamon dip There were lots of chutneys, relishes, basmati rice, poppadum, Nan bread, Kulcha and Paratha- it was a real curry feast!
Next Corleen laid the table ( he thought Gori was coming as well but she cancelled in the week as she had to work overtime) . He made a really nice job of it.
Next I laid up the buffet table and Jake climbed the ladder to get all our party food containers down to keep the food hot ( good job we did as the boys were late arriving) .
We were ready for 12 noon when Rakesh and Suresh finish work but they had told me that we could not collect them from the Academy, they had to go to their accommodation and change . So we agreed we would collect them from Nesto at 1pm. By then I was starving as I was up at 3 am preparing food , and Jake had been working since 6 am and needed to go home at 12. Jake and I ate while Corleen collected the boys. Once they arrived I took Jake home at 1.30 pm . Corleen ate with the boys and then I returned to have Berry Parfait with them and gave them the house and garden tour. Originally they said at noon that they could only come for 30 mins but then this got extended to an hour, and I took two happy full guys home at 2 pm , with a bag full of food for their colleagues!
It is so nice to be able to help those less fortunate than you, and I know my colleagues feel the same. Every Eid and at Christmas we all put in 10 bd for Rakesh, and with 11 of us in the office that's a months wages for him. I was really happy when I had a message from Shawn in January to say that they had a whip round for Rakesh at Christmas 2021 and bought him a cake for his Birthday in January 2022. Nice one guys!
Until the next time - Ingat Palagi, Kita Kits, Mahal kita
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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