With all due respects to my men friends who 'do' help out their spouses:
-----This is how a Typical day goes for me-----
The Alarm goes off at 6:00am! Being habituated, I roll over and hit the Snooze button, and lo and behold time flies and I wake up eventually @ 7am, a hot cuppa coffee awaiting me and not to mention the hot news(paper i.e.)!
The paper to which I (think I) have the exclusive rights!
The hot coffee is just not enough for me to move my day forward so I demand/request (plead is more like it.. eh?) another cuppa, much to the annoyance of your spouse, who is busy cooking/packing things for our children. either the cuppa or the annoyance helps me to move forward, I & my newspaper go into the exclusive place where no one can disturb you - the toilet! - it is like those "occupy wall street" scene!
And then once I am tired of the news & other things in the bath, I come out expecting a hot breakfast on the table (& another cuppa?) before leaving home 'to conquer the world!' or 'Bringing home the bacon' (which ever suits you!)
The next part is a black box to both (!) - neither we know what they do (soaps!?) nor they know what we do (cuppa?)
Again, once we are back, things go in a similar was - cuppa, occupy TV!, food on the table, (calls? work i.e.) and a warm bed - which was made up!...
I have recently taken a role change (just like the 'What an Idea' campaign of phone exchange!) and volunteered to take care of the home and baby sit my too-cautious-after-a-sickness-mother.
What I went through the past few days is a reflection of what our spouses go through each and every day!
This view from the inside would also help us demystify the 'Black box' as well!
-----
The alarm goes off at 6am! I still wanted the extra 5mins but I think of how the day is going to pan out!? Coffee, breakfast, lunch, maid etc.etc. and automatically my body moves to the bath for a quick ablution, I open the doors to bring in the fresh air! Suddenly I am worried whether I put in the basket for the milk last night! - Lucikly I did
The scene in the kitchen was an aftermath of a CBI raid! used and unused food/vessels all over the place!
I obviously forgot to clear the mess after the dinner last night! the sink was stinking
My loyalty to the IPL & my drink - leading to a late night dinner - has costed me this expensive cleanup!
I also forgot to put the curd & the idli batter into the fridge! the batter foamed over and made a mess of the floor! - apart from cleaning up this batter matter, it also meant that we are going to have a sour lunch/breakfast!
I put these into the fridge hoping that the sourness would go away!
I put the milk & water to boil and bring out the coffee powder, luckily there was just enough powder for today, need to remember to get some today! My thoughts on what the breakfast should be (idili, upma, oats, cereal, etc.) was interrupted by the milk boiling over - @$#@! another mess!
Finally a fresh cuppa! but not before cleaning up all these mess on hand..
Now for breakfast.
I wanted to make beaten rice upma and check the fridge for some vegetables, I don't remember going to the market in the last couple of days :-(, hence there were none, except for the ever savior root 'Mr.Aloo'!.
what is a upma without some vegetable in it!, my mother says?
we settle down for oats (did i mention I used to hate this? the last few days this has been my savior!)
luckily the milk is ready...so one more bastion conquered!!
I was desperate to check my mails - it is 8am and I haven't even logged in to check my email once !! ridiculous, i should be connected to the virtual world isn't it!?
My thoughts were interrupted my the door bell, and I was greeted by a lady who claimed to be our maid!
oops! i forgot that our regular maid was on leave for the next few days!
'Big deal' you might think eh!? you are mistaken.
It makes all the deal, the next 1 hour goes by - I had to tell her were the broom, soap, clothes, hangars, etc, was! being new I did not want her to misplace things that are strewn around the house. The old newspapers, mails, clothes, carpets, remotes, all needs to be in the right place. The bed was yet to be done.
Mail not checked yet!
Luckily for me we had a cook! However, telling her what to do was a challenge! you see it is not that my taste buds don't recommend the best, however, it is directly related to what vegetables are there in the fridge! Realization dawns slowly that I should have done some shopping for certain basics - vegetables, salt, rice etc. else you are relegated to having the same Aloo or Bhendi all the time. (Now I understand the subtle messg my wife used to give - by cooking the same stuff again and again!)
With lunch over i settle down for a relaxing time to watch some ET-now news & get to my mails (!), the door bell rings. in fact it did atleast 10 other time during the day. either for the Iron waali, bill pay for the milk/cable, courier, the security bringing in a circular, the neighbor wanting some sugar, or host of other things! (Now I understand why my wife says she couldn't get a siesta!)
Then the scheduled power cut. dang! there goes my 'Mail checking' opportunity - again!
Process Note: the following did occur to my analytical / professional mind
- is there any way to optimize this?
- how about out sourcing
- how about replacing?
- can you teach the cook/maid to enhance their performance?
- can I ask the milk/dhobi/cable/maintenance etc. vendors to have online payment enabled so that I can pay it automatically!
I would spare you of the rest of the day's activities :-)
They were no different - Clothes to be picked up after drying & kept in order, payments to be made, Medication to mother, sudden walk-in of visitors when you are having lunch/dinner & hence needing to figure out how to manage the food, evening Tea, thinking about dinner, going out to buy groceries/vegetables, buying the coffee powder, cutting the vegetables, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, setting the curd, making you bed etc. etc.
Phew! With all these it has been only 1 day!
The question is:
- Will I be able to do this day on day, week on week, year on year...that too with a smile :-)
The next time my wife asks for an helping hand with either
- cutting the vegetables, shopping, folding the clothes, making the bed, opening the door, ironing the clothes, cleaning the table after dinner, etc.
I would gladly put down that remote / drink and DO IT!
Hats off to the Ladies who make it a HOME!
Happy Mothers day!
Don't they deserve a promotion, or a raise - guys !?
(akshaya thrithiya is around - in case you didn't know!)
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