its a curious thing--life as servant was no doubt brutal--hard work and very little reward (and factory work, in the industrial revolution was hard, brutal work too) but people flocked to it.
today, in most industrial countries, the most dangerous work to be in, (usually) is mining--followed closely by farming.
farming is hard dangerous work, modern day farm subsidies mean farmer usually don't starve or go bankrupt, but no one (almost no one) want to stay on the farm--almost everyone realizes, there are easier safer ways to live.
Iowa keeps losing population.. kids go off to a small town like Ames (ISU) and they don't want to go back to the even smaller town they grew up in, but off to bigger and better cities.
Cities (and city/states) are were culture (civilization) started--and no matter how bad it is being a slave, and getting up 3 hours earlier than the maharaja, i suspect for many it was better than eking out a bare subsistance back home on the farm.
NYC's sea port museum show 'typical' sailors bunks, and has a film, (made in the 1930's) of a masted/steam (steam and sail) ship caught in a storm--its scary to watch.. but men went to the sea to escape life on the farm.. and thought themselves lucky to be able to do so.
i suspect 3rd or 4th generation cast of silk sari's (1/2 or even 1/4th the size of the original) were still better than smaller, coarser cotton ones.. and sleeping on stone floor sounds less than idilic, but its better than a mud one with a leaking thatched roof above during the rainy season.
V.S.Napaul, (a bend in the river, i think) has one character (an owner) complaining that he has tried to 'free' his slaves--but they won't leave the house! they stay, doing a little work (and eating him out of house and home)
Slavery is not a good thing, but its sometimes a better life than farming! in many cultures, slavery is not indefinate, (its for a term, either the life of the owner, 50 years, or just one generation) and people who have choices, sometimes chose 'lifetime indentured servant' (something seen as slavery) as a choice. Not one i would make, but.
