For someone who has never cleaned her own room without a lot of coaxing, waking up early in the morning to clean someone else’s mess was surely not the best idea I had come up with in a long time. But here I was on my way to The Metropolitan Hotel, New Delhi. After taking in the comfortable silence of the lobby, I made my way up to the seventh floor. Here Rajan, the housekeeping charge for the floor, greeted me with a smile. “You will be in charge of room number 731,” he said. “Okay,” I smiled. How difficult could it be, it was just one room.Rajan burst my happy bubble. “We take maximum of 45 minutes to straighten the room and bathroom and finish dusting, scrubbing, mopping and vacuum-cleaning,” he said, quickly adding, “The rooms are either cleaned clockwise or anti-clockwise.”My excursion in this new world of housekeeping was time-bound and how. I started off with the task of making the bed. After 10 minutes, I was still trying to lift the hefty mattress, forget tucking in the sheets neatly. “You need practice, but it’s ok,” said Rajan.With Rajan’s gracious help I managed to do the bed and look a bit professional about the whole deal. I was surprised to look at my watch. “We have already spent 20 minutes,” Rajan chided. Quickly, he gave me a duster and instructed me to clean every surface I could see. After all this light work, came the big one—the bathroom. I entered it gingerly and tried to brace myself for the worst. Pitching in to clean your own bathroom when the maid is away is one thing, cleaning up for a stranger needs a lot of courage. The saving grace was that our guest had not used it at all. So the floor was sparkling clean and the most dreaded water closet was also spick and span. I heaved a sigh of relief, when I heard Rajan calling out, “Even if it isn’t used, we need to clean it. Get the brush and cleaning agent from the trolley and start.”So there I was, at 10.45 in the morning, trying to maintain my dignity with a toilet brush in one hand and a liquid detergent bowl in the other. I survived the experience and also cleaned the washbasin, the shower cubicle and even ensured that the mirror sparkled like it was right out of a Saint Gobain ad. We then checked the amenities in the room — eight wooden hangers, two satin hangers, shoe basket, slippers, two laundry bags and a carry bag in the almirahs. We did a similar check on the the writing desk for pads, folders, and pens. We checked for note-pads and pens on the bedside tables, and magazines next to the sofas were arranged neatly. The only thing left to clean was the mini-bar. After putting all those tempting vodka, whisky, wine and mineral bottles in place, I sighed in relief. But I was soon told by Rajan to check all the amenities in the bathroom. So, off I went— bath towels, hand towels, face towels, bath mat, bath robe, soaps, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, dental kit, shower cap, sewing kit, nail filer and hair dryer later, I was ready to call it a day. Rajan knew what I had in mind and handed me the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner. “Do I have to do it?” I asked sheepishly. It took another 25 minutes to maneuver my way around the room with all that whizzing and a few missed specks on the carpet later I gave up. Rajan took pity on me. “Just roll the trolley out, I’ll mop the bathroom floor. Your work is done,” he said. From now on, I am definitely going to keep my room clean, and I think I will do it clockwise.
