In 2018, I met Ishu, a 17-year-old girl from Azad Nagar. Ishu worked as a domestic helper in a middle-class home in Andheri West, Mumbai. She worked full-time at Mr and Mrs Purohit's house. She washed utensils, did laundry, mopped the floors, and cooked for the family. As a part of my ethnographic fieldwork, I sought Mr and Mrs Purohit's permission to hang out with Ishu at their home. Ishu insisted that her employers were generous with her. She was allowed to eat food from their kitchen, use a fan while cooking and doing other domestic chores, and was also allowed paid leave of three days every month.

Ishu was given a separate set of utensils for her meals at her employer's house. She was not supposed to wash her utensils with those the family members used. She was also expected to store these utensils in a separate cabinet in the kitchen. Ishu was not allowed to switch on the television, listen to the radio, or use tube lights during the day. She was allowed to use a fan only during unbearably hot weather. What was particularly striking in her interaction with Mr and Mrs Purohit was the cleanliness protocol she followed every time she used any technological device in their house. For instance, after using Mrs Purohit's mobile phone to call and inform her mother that she would be working late, Ishu wiped the mobile phone with a kitchen towel before handing it back to Mrs Purohit. Similarly, whenever she used the television or AC remote control, she had to wipe it down using sanitiser and a piece of cloth.