Wednesday, 6 February 2019

A page from the homemaker' s diary.


Today's Times of India carried a piece by journalist Jug Suraiya titled Unpaid COOs and here's a page from one such unpaid Coo's diary...read on. 



As a regular homemaker, my day begins pretty early. The 'cheerful' buzz of the alarm awakens me to the sights and sounds of the day. it is 7am and ever so cold these days. I reluctantly drag myself out of bed. My youngest has already left for college at the unearthly hour of 5.45am.Being quite adept in the kitchen, he rustles up breakfast for himself. I have much to be thankful for.   I remind myself to practice my breathing exercises and then trudge to the kitchen.

My 'ginger -infused' warm water is all ready for me to glug down. (Thanks to my significant other)While tea happily brews on the stove, my significant other is busy pottering around in the kitchen, preparing his starters as in a smoothie. Now that water and tea both have been drunk, it is time to get down to the business of taking on the day. 

The firstborn needs breakfast and a lunch box. I get started on those. I must keep in mind his likes and dislikes and prepare something. Preparing a lunch box is by no means an easy task. Most days, I am like," what do I give him today?"  Significant other chips in and am I grateful for that! Once done, there's our breakfast to be prepared - When you are looking to lose weight, you have to weigh the benefits and damages of one food item against another.  Looking at shedding some flab, the latest on my breakfast menu is overnight oats.

Breakfast over, we await the arrival of the maid. Punctuality is hardly her thing. Ten could stretch to ten - thirty. Every maid is differently made. The last one did a pretty good job but attendance was weak. It's vice -versa now. After she is gone I get to work on the lunch. Cooking is not really my cup of tea these days. Planning the daily menu sometimes drives me crazy.   I would rather blog about how much I hate cooking but with 3 grown men in the house, cook, I must. I have come to rely heavily on Facebook and YouTube for recipes and yes, they have been quite a help.

. " I wish my bank balance would fill up as quickly as my laundry basket", said another harassed homemaker. Tackling the laundry is another detestable chore. I guess I find it so detestable because that teetering pile is staring at me right from the time I open my eyes. To further my annoyance significant other provides the background chorus - "the basket is overflowing, when are you going to load the washing? tra - la, la, la, la..."   I categorize delicate wash, hand wash and normal wash and load and unload the washing machine almost every day of the week.

After lunch, it's a catnap followed by tea. The significant other leaves for work late in the afternoon. He is one of those lucky ones who loves what he does and is able to fill the home coffers too. My husband is a pianist who strikes the right chords for pleasure and paisa. I am mostly left to my own devices after he leaves, as the youngest who is home by tea time or even earlier is usually immersed in social media. Despite unfinished chores, I do look forward to that 'me time'.

Post-tea is when I usually plonk myself in front of the computer to catch up on my daily dose of writing and surfing. There have been intermittent work from home jobs. I enjoyed the little financial independence that I derived from those. I sincerely hope something comes up soon.   It is at about 6pm that I head out to the neighbourhood joggers park for a brisk forty minutes walk. Back home after the walk and some grocery shopping, I treat myself to some telly time.

An early dinner is part of the 'lose weight, keep fit programme' and that is what I  strive to do. Dinner is over by 8.30pm  and I am back to completing the laundry. The firstborn returns from work at around 10pm and significant other around 11pm. I am pottering around the house until then. Firstborn has some unearthly timings which we still haven't quite adjusted to. He heads to the gym at 10.30pm  returns 12.45am and then sits down to dinner.

As parents, we are wont to worry about the hours he keeps but "you must learn to sleep" says he. Sleep I do but only after we hear the key turning in the lock at 12.45am.

Oh yes, I have a houseful and there is always plenty to do but I am thankful that I have always been spared the agony of juggling homework with a job outside the home. 

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