A necessary book for Delhi. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] “A really good housemaid should never be able to be alone in a room with a table without giving it a good rub, or, if the room is occupied, without wishing to do so.” This advice in the 1853 manual Common Sense for Housewives sets the tone for a vivid and diverse report on a working class that “squeeze awkwardly into the big narrative of twentieth-century labour history.” Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth-century Britain should be made a compulsory read for every Delhiwalla – Delhi, after all, is a city where the exploitation of domestic staff happens in every privileged home, regardless of its social and educational background. See rules for ayahs at