In
the world of today, the title itself is quite indicative about the subject of
this post.
Gentle Disclaimer: Before I proceed, I
know the world is going through a massive turmoil. And this is just a simple
post, about a simple woman and how a not so simple virus impacted her simple
daily life when the world was forced into Lockdown. A cathartic experience to
pen this down and to talk about the lessons and learnings it Unlocked for me.
So,
the “Unlockdown” phase has started in the country. And with that my crashed
laptop is back, unlocked with a new hard disk drive. I can write again. (I absolutely abhor writing on a small
mobile device.)
A quick look at how
things went:-
- Celebrating landmark 1st birthday of Little Ms. A – ✔✔
- Celebrating (visiting) brother’s landmark birthday – ✔✔
- Celebrating 6th b'day (+farewell to buddies) of Bigger Ms. A – ✔✔
- All set to move to another city (and school for the elder one) – ✔✔
- Lockdown announced – ✔✔
- Existing plans of the family - ✖✖, all of a sudden
First
up, the two little women and their mommy had to get used to the Daddy being
around the house -- Was this for real… 24x7, All days of Every
week??!!
The
man, himself, would initially move around with a dazed look, as colleagues got
substituted by three women of different sizes and serious discussions on video
calls got interspersed with whoops and giggles and clattering of toys and
banging of pots and pans. 🤣
[Psst…. He’s still not adjusted to WFH,
though he now relishes the giggles that accompany his breaks]
Let’s
move on to the 10 Lessons that were Unlocked for me even as I remain Locked up.
#1: Human proposes, Virus disposes
My
grandmother’s favourite idiom kept replaying in my mind, as I went about my
newfound chores – “Man proposes, God disposes”. Just that it got replaced by
the heading I have written above.
I
had totally envisioned what the next few weeks were to be like, with Bigger Ms.
A starting a new school in a new city, we setting up a new house… blah blah
blah.
What
I was doing instead was scrambling for groceries + trying to cope with housework + handling the toddler +
managing the questions of a kid who’s suddenly stuck at home + keeping the two girls entertained and
engaged +
(long sentence alert) all the
while getting amused at the wonder on the face of the ever-traveling husband, who
experienced more of this house and the kids in this lockdown, than he ever has
in the past few years that we have been here (snigger, snigger) +++…… 😉
#2: All that glitters is not Gold, but definitely your
golden hard work
I
re-learnt the art of sweeping and mopping,
early in the morning, before the two girls awoke.
And
what did I realize – that the house has never sparkled so much in the past!!
Validation
came from a childhood friend (that’s what
friends are for), from a far-off continent, on a video call, who commented
on the spotless white floors that she could spot (pun intended) behind me. Never had I imagined my heart would sing
with joy at such commendation… !!! 😜
#3: When your back is to the wall, you have to do it all –
even what you have always disliked
Of course I am allowed to dislike
certain chores
Back
in my youth (and that’s seeming quite a
long time ago), I used to rock the dance floor. Now I rock the bathroom
floor.
The
lockdown ensured that I get to do my “beloved” task of cleaning the bathroom on
a regular basis, under the hawk-like surveillance of the ultra-finicky Bigger
Ms. A.
Recognition
came from the satisfied smile on her face and more so when I saw her trying to
emulate me. 😇
#4: No one is born a great Cook, one learns by Doing
I
have always defined myself as a reluctant cook who produces edible stuff. It’s a different story altogether that
Bigger Ms. A considers me as one of her favourite cooks.
Lockdown
graduated me to someone who is a necessary cook (albeit sometimes reluctant) who can produce pretty fancy stuff,
too. And hey, even manage all the four burners of the hob at one go… Applause!!
And
may I also add with pride, Baking became
a piece of cake – so much so that a whole post should be dedicated to it.
On
a serious note, mistakes helped me to gradually shed my fear of experimenting
with seemingly tough recipes and embrace cooking. 😃
#5: Variety is the spice of life
Continuing
the above point, this of course includes my fancy chapatis.
It
must be so boring for my mom to dish out perfectly round, same-sized,
super soft chapatis every day.
Her
worthy (not) daughter can produce
chapatis in various shapes and sizes (Reasoning:
If kids can have multi-shaped pasta, why not chapatis).
Also,
my chapatis can sometimes pass off as khakra, sometimes as papad, sometimes as
chapatis and sometimes a combo of all. Isn’t variety more fun? 😜
#6: Record Setter
I have started bettering
my personal records.
Previous bathing time of
5 mins 20 seconds is now further reduced to 3 minutes 02 seconds. It’s often
accompanied by a rap song that goes like “Mumma.. Knock knock.. (louder) Mumma.. Knock
knock.. (Shrieking) Mumma Mumma.. Waaaaaaah”.
I can also go a (personal) record 7 hours at a stretch
without sitting down even for a few seconds. Yippeee..
The body weight and
shape remain stubborn though, preferring bulging over budging. 😏
#7: Slow and steady wins the race
Earlier I had an
obnoxious record of devouring books by the hour. Now… pause… at least one sentence… pause…
is completed… pause… in a day!!! Applause again…
On some days, the book
even has to be satisfied just by displaying its enticing cover to me. 😭
#8: A New (Multi-tasking) Sport
Again, back in my youth (read it in a tone of lament), my
favourite spot/ sport used to be perching on a comfortable seating, reading
books, accompanied by some warm beverage.
I have had to adopt a
new favourite spot/ sport – the anterior of the kitchen sink, trying to sparkle
as many vessels as possible (we had so
many!!), often accompanied by the warm beverage on the kitchen platform, as
a test of multi-tasking…
…and quite often
balancing a toddler weaving her path through my legs and a multi-question
asking inquisitive child.
Bigger Ms. A along with
her Daddy even composed a song with actions in my honour – please note, it did
nothing to assuage my temper. 😒
#9: Back to School
And
while on multi-tasking, it’s no mean task to juggle household chores with a
child’s new medium of learning (read:
virtual), that too when she’s just starting “big” school.
Helping
her understand the importance of assignments and helping her execute them gave
me the Back to School feeling (the one
feeling about school that I could do without at this moment, with limited
resources available). 😵
#10: When it rains, look for the rainbow
Ending the post with
another favourite quote from my grandmother.
Well, it has been raining
some days and we have actually seen rainbows, too.
The silver lining in
this new world is the abundant family time we are getting. The kids and I
absolutely love and cherish having Daddy around. We did stuff that we never had
but surely could have done pre-virus, too.
For instance, encouraged
by a cousin, we had a balcony picnic and needless to say, the kids were
thrilled.
Video calls with friends
helped us re-connect regularly. And we definitely could have done this earlier,
too. Well, as the saying goes, better late than never. 💖
Q.E.D:
I
have learnt a lot about my capabilities and the art of tackling certain adverse
situations.
So
I keep my chin up (will help with the
developing double chin) and wait for this crisis to tide over.
