For the last three weeks, Deepika Mhatre has been tremendously busy. Over three- dozen media interviews including a few television appearances have left her exhausted and exhilarated at once. “I feel like I’m in a trance,” says the 43-year-old Mumbai resident.
Mhatre is a simple, unpretentious woman who works hard to earn a living. She takes the 4:30 am local train every morning from one end of the city to the other, boarding and de-boarding compartments on the way, looking for eager customers to sell her bag full of imitation jewellery. At 6:30 am, she makes a hasty retreat to a Mumbai suburb to spend the next seven hours working as a cook in five homes. For the past eight years, she has followed the same drill.
But Mhatre’s humble lifestyle perked up last September, when she premiered as a standup comic, with a fresh and unique voice. The novelty of seeing a domestic helper on stage, taking digs at her elite employers has pulled legions of audiences to her shows. Since then, her monotonous days have been complemented by cheerful evenings. Now she heads out for open mic events in uptown venues of Mumbai, at least a few nights a week. While the gigs are still unpaid, Mhatre has become a sort of a celebrity within the country. “Being famous is a very good feeling,” she says.
Mhatre grew up in a Mumbai chawl, fell in love and married a boy from her neighbourbood at 21, and never got a chance to think about her dreams. Within a few years, her husband developed asthma and she had to step out of home to keep the home fires burning. Cooking, babysitting, selling pickle and papad, she has done it all. “I enjoy doing every kind of work,” Mhatre says.
But being a domestic helper has been her longest occupation. It has also taught her a lot about inequality and discrimination.
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So, last year, when Sangeeta Vyas - a resident of the high-end Mumbai residential complex, where Mhatre worked as a maid - organised a talent show for domestic helpers, Mhatre chose to participate, and “crack jokes about her madams.” She unequivocally jested about how her employers always asked her not to apply ghee on chapattis and avoid cheese in sandwiches, but would never think twice about washing down burgers and pizzas. Vyas was impressed and so was a journalist at a leading Indian daily, who was watching Deepika at the show.
Soon, Mhatre was connected with Aditi Mittal, India’s leading standup comic. “When Aditi saw the recorded video of the event, she was fascinated by the unique concept of a domestic helper cracking jokes about inequality,” Vyas says. “She was floored by Deepika’s pleasing personality and confidence, so she took her under her wing.”
“When I met Aditi she kept insisting that I must agree to perform to show my talent to the world,” Mhatre recalls.
Mumbai-based standup comic Rohit Shah was assigned to help Mhatre prepare her set. Her two-minute performance at the residential complex talent show was fleshed out into a six-minute set.
Shah had a long chat with her to explore the ideas Mhatre wanted to perpetuate with her set. “She gave me all the punch lines,” Shah says. “All I needed to do was indicate which experiences could be turned into jokes.”
Mhatre says she was comfortable facing the audiences from the very first show. “I’m quite used to dealing with crowds in the Mumbai locals,” she laughs.
Over the past year, Mhatre has learnt how jokes work with different kinds of audiences. “It didn’t take her much time to nail the delivery,” says Shah.
“Rohit taught me how to conduct myself on stage and to pause when the viewers laugh,” Mhatre says.
Unsurprisingly, Mhatre has to pause quite often during her performance, as her audiences frequently crack up on jokes they have never heard.
She talks of receiving ‘special’ treatment at her workplace, where she uses a separate elevator assigned to maids and other workers. Her madams have kept separate plates and glasses for her. “That’s all okay, you may hide your utensils,” she quips during her performance. “But you still eat the chapattis I make. I’m still the one who applies balm when your body aches,” she scoffs, amid peels of laughter.
Mhatre is not worried about reprisal. On the contrary, she is “grateful that I got a platform to share the grievances of domestic helpers,” she says. “There are very few who can really speak up for themselves.”
She talks of employers who don’t permit their maids to sit on chairs and others who make them wait indefinitely for their salary. “Some madams also have a habit of regularly asking for extra work,” she says. “If I just make chapattis, I don’t like being asked to chop vegetables without being paid for it.”
A few women have approached her after her show, confessing that she “opened their eyes” about their behaviour towards domestic helpers.
Vyas’s experience has been different, though. “Very few women have actually recognised Deepika’s talent and appreciated her work. The talk of the town is that a maid got lucky and has made it big,” she says.
Mhatre recently quit her job as a maid to focus on comedy. It has, of course, affected her income, but her family is willing to make that sacrifice for her. “How many people like me get a chance to rise and pursue their dream?”
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Other promotions
- Deliveroo will team up with Pineapple Express to offer customers near JLT a special treat: free banana caramel dessert with all orders on January 26
- Jones the Grocer will have their limited edition Australia Day menu available until the end of the month (January 31)
- Australian Vet in Abu Dhabi (with locations in Khalifa City A and Reem Island) will have a 15 per cent off all store items (excluding medications)
FIXTURES
UAE’s remaining fixtures in World Cup qualification R2
Oct 8: Malaysia (h)
Oct 13: Indonesia (a)
Nov 12: Thailand (h)
Nov 17: Vietnam (h)
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
FIXTURES
Saturday, November 3
Japan v New Zealand
Wales v Scotland
England v South Africa
Ireland v Italy
Saturday, November 10
Italy v Georgia
Scotland v Fiji
England v New Zealand
Wales v Australia
Ireland v Argentina
France v South Africa
Saturday, November 17
Italy v Australia
Wales v Tonga
England v Japan
Scotland v South Africa
Ireland v New Zealand
Saturday, November 24
|Italy v New Zealand
Scotland v Argentina
England v Australia
Wales v South Africa
Ireland v United States
France v Fiji
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
The%20specs
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'Project Power'
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Rating: 3.5/5
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Release Date: April 10
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
