Recommended link; relevant to many discussions....
Highly recommended, and relevant to a number of our past discussions: "New Delhi Diarist: My Servant Problem," by John Lancaster, at
at http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070702&s=diarist070207 . Here's a sample:

"Call me ungrateful, but servility rubbed me the wrong way. I just couldn't get used to the idea of being the sahib, to the bowing and scraping it inspired on the part of the grown men and women who worked for me. The night chowkidar made me feel like an idiot every time he greeted me with a snappy salute and a brisk, 'Suh!' (Was I supposed to salute back?) And I hated the way that Asha, in a pantomime of humility, would flatten herself against a wall every time I came within sight, even if I was on the other side of the room. My father, visiting from the United States, was sometimes perplexed to find, after returning from a trip to the bathroom or the kitchen, that the newspaper he was reading had been neatly folded and put away. There is such a thing as too much help."