Little things we took for granted

Life just went on without me realizing all the surrounding goodness around me. Although, I was aware, I never realized the true meaning until this corona-virus caused lock down situation happened.

My life involved all the regular stuff, like every other normal person. I belong to a middle class life – husband, wife, mother-in-law and two children. My daily routine before the lock-down was waking up at 5 a.m. followed by morning chores: coffee, breakfast, lunch preparations. While my husband gets the kids ready, I get their breakfast and lunch. I love my relaxed morning walk after my kids have left for school. Thereafter, duty calls. I enjoy my drive to office in spite of the heavy traffic. My work as a software engineer, is always on the desk, except for the table tennis games to break the monotony. After office work, I get back to my motherly duties. Spend time with family, dinner and then I doze off peacefully.

And then one day, my life changed. Can’t say for the better or worse. Yes, you are right, it was “the corona virus”, which did the magic, not just for me but for the entire world. Everything changed right from waking up to sleeping. What use to be weekend schedule now became everyday schedule! The day begins with the regular chores as usual. Naturally my house help could not come to work as there was a lock down. There was a twist in my daily routine. Now I had to sweep and mop the house. This made me wonder that our house help was a magician. She really had supernatural powers because she would finish this task every day in 20 min whereas I took an hour. By the time this mammoth task was accomplished I’m drenched in sweat and every part of the body screamed for rest. Cleansing the swabbing stick takes the most time. I remember my house help doing it in less than 3 minutes and I took nothing less than 15. Nevertheless, hats off to her strength. If she was personally in front of me, I would have hugged her in sheer gratitude!

My stomach growls as though it’s been hungry for ages. Nowadays, breakfast tastes like Biryani and I relish every bite. Now, can you believe my luck, the washing machine decided to take a break. What a perfect time to breakdown during the lock down! Technicians have refused to service until lock down ends. In other words, I’m the official washing machine! As I wash the clothes, I also thank God for all the days when the washing machine worked untiringly doing its job without a glitch in spite of us always treating it with utmost disrespect. By the time, I squeeze out the last drop of water it’s almost time for the daily stand-up call in office. But wait, I still have not taken bath. No time to enjoy a long hot bath, it had to be a short quick one. Transformed from the house help to a software professional in less than 10 minutes. Yeah! The entire world now follows “AGILE”, however my fingers are barely moving on the laptop as they show every bit of resistance. Albeit, the inner motivation, pushes aside the strong vibes of revolutionary fight emerging within me.

Finally, meeting is over, the next ones with the children and it’s just round the corner. “Keep quiet”, “Don’t fight”, “Be the bigger person”, “Play nicely”, “Count of 5”, “OK that’s it, Timeout!” These are the regular sentences all through the day. At the office, work was in a peaceful environment but now it’s just the opposite with my two kids at home. Amongst all the lectures to the kids, office work continues along with the added body ache due to the not-so-comfortable position at home. I now realize how pampered I was having a comfortable workspace in office, the 24/ 7 AC and not to forget the well-lit rooms.

No matter how much ordeal we go through, we still have hope to hang on too. There are always two sides of a coin, or like the Chinese say yin-yang. In every goodness there is some bad and in every bad there is still some good. So over to the good part…

My mother-in-law does all the umpteen little things to keep the house running, from cooking to keeping things in place to gardening to setting cupboard in order. I can always heave a sigh of relieve for all those tasks done without expecting any appreciation.

My husband at his office got tea served by the office boy. Now he makes it for both of us. Of course, he has made it earlier too but receiving a hot tea in between work is quite rejuvenating. Not to forget the loading of dishwasher he does each day without complaining.

My son has filled books and books with pictures and it’s a pleasure and stress buster to just see his art improving.

Having a daughter who keeps telling stories is totally different than having a son who hardly shares. Since I’m now full time at home, I get to listen to trillion stories. We’ve all heard stories with ‘Once upon a time…’, but my daughter’s stories start with “Mom you know what happened? When this corona virus was not there …” And then it goes on.

Both children realized that suddenly life can change without any notice. They have started being more responsible. My 6-year-old daughter asked me to apply a little less of toothpaste as we can’t be sure if we get another toothpaste soon. They both help me with all the work that needs to be done. They are such quick learners. I feel so blessed to have them as they pitch in so many small ways.

One more blessing that we received during this period is the beautiful chirping of the birds. It’s so pleasant to start your day with their music. Of course, it was there earlier too but as I said, we were always in the rush that we never realized.

But life is fragile, it’s there today, gone tomorrow. This pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on families, communities and nation’s world-over but it’s also giving rise to acts of generosity, camaraderie, and cooperation. These are worth being grateful and definitely need an applause!

I have learnt to be grateful to my immediate and extended family, my friends and my office colleagues, and of course, the most important person of all our house help (how can I forget)! Thank you to each one of you who are there in my life and have helped me directly and indirectly in the journey of life until now. Thank you almighty for the innumerable blessings received.