The saga of the lockdown life..

And I’m back to blogging after ages. Yup you guessed it right, all thanks to the corona virus and the locked down lifestyle we all are bound to live in these days. Not that I don’t have my plate full… there are plenty of chores that need my attention at this moment while I’m writing this. But I decided to ignore those as they seem never ending and I feel as I’m always springing from one chore to another before I realize one more day has come to an end and all I did was copy paste the previous day and the previous and the previous. Blah! Its like you are on a programmed mode to finish the days chores, and by mistake someone switched on the repeat mode and Viola! You are on a spin. I’ve even lost count of days/weeks/weekends as I literally drag myself out of the bed each day to face the repetitiveness of the lockdown life. Though it has its own positives and it also had few learnings and discoveries about myself which I never thought remotely possible in the normal life. Here it goes :

-The biggest learning I had during lockdown is that I can keep my family well-fed and not kill them with hunger.  Which means, I can cook. Yay! Not that I don’t q⅞know how to cook but more like I didn’t like to cook. At all. Not even at a gun point. Nah! I’ve never been the typical wife/mom who churns up thousand different dishes just to satiate the titillating taste buds of the husband or mini me. I totally lack maternal instinct in this matter. My kid would never have known ‘maa ke haath ka khana’ had it not been for this lockdown. But to my surprise, I’m actually liking it for the first time in life, not the regular cooking(that’s still just one of the chores) but trying out new dishes especially desserts and sweets. And mind you, I whipped up some delicious meals and desserts that normally I wouldn’t have thought of trying and my family survived that. Can’t beat that, now can you? It could be a different story that they might be begging and praying for this lockdown to end and for my cook to resume and be saved from eating food cooked by me. Well, all I can say is I hope their prayers come true…SOON!! But till then they gotta bear the brunt…err..i mean the bliss of my cooking.

-Another thing I learnt or rather this lockdown confirmed was that I cant survive without my maid. Okay, maybe I can survive alright but its kinda like surviving without a soul. Umm..Wait a minute. Does this mean she’s my soulmate? It sure does sound like it but trust me, I mean it in a completely different way. I’m very much straight like that. I mean sidhi sadi… what did you think? Okay, so getting back to the point, I have a little OCD when it comes to cleanliness and organizing. I can’t stand a messy room or a sink full of dirty dishes. So, inspite of telling and trying to convince myself that I’ll skip this one chore for today or do it later, I somehow end up doing it only to get bushed by the end of it. I wonder how our maids, who does all this and more in not just one or two but plenty of houses, get the strength to do what they do. Every single day without taking a break. Now, I have a new-found respect for all the maids and helpers who are the actual force behind our being a successful homemaker. Because its only when they help us in keeping our houses clean, it gives us the privilege to focus on ourselves and our loved ones.. be it going out for work or work from home, taking up hobbies/ classes, working out in the gym or doing yoga, spending uninterrupted time with your loved ones, or just chilling out with your favorite book with a cuppa coffee. So, while I wait desperately for her to come back into my life and my house, till then I have conferred this honour upon my permanent soulmate to help me with the house chores. And we have now finally realized that we are indeed ‘maid’ for each other. Bravo!

-Talking of learning new things, I simply cannot not mention the latest new found platform for digital learning and online classes. Yeah, you zoomed right in! Zoom classes. Boy oh boy! A different ball game altogether. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined taking grade 3 classes along with my daughter. Well, not literally but you do get the gist of what’s going on in the class and what they are learning while you go about doing your chores around the house with one ear hanging in to hear the shenanigans of the online classes. And for those times that you do miss the gist for whatever reasons, the mommy brigade in your class whatsapp group makes sure you are updated with all the happenings and comes to your rescue. Sometimes I literally feel like I actually bunked my class and I frantically go to my mommy rescuers for help to save me from the teacher’s wrath and punishment. So thank you my mommy brigade for having my back always .. I owe it to you all for this one! As for my daughter, she doesn’t really like to attend the online classes, she’d rather prefer going to the school than this. But hello! Lockdown. So we don’t have a better alternative at this point than to follow this, albeit a little grudgingly. Though one thing she loves the most about these online classes is she can apply the Mr.India stunt and go invisible from the class. Poof! She thinks she can give a run to wonder woman with her new found superpower. And the teacher wouldn’t even notice that she’s missing since there are hundreds of other kids vying for the teacher’s attention. Whoever said that online classes are mundane.. probably doesn’t know the advantages(from the students perspective) of online learning. Virtues of being the tech-savvy generation! Show me Thumbs-up.

-And then there are many other small learnings and realizations like being an introvert is not such a bad quality after all.. despite being a woman. Just because of this trait I’m able to survive the lockdown which I’m sure the extroverts must be losing their sanity over. Smirky grin.  I have also realized that I can survive without junk food and eating out at the restaurants every weekend. Though not exactly sure about the scenario once the lockdown opens. But yeah a major win for sure till now. I have learnt, and this I never imagined could be remotely possible, that I can remain humanely sane despite the husband being in the same zone and vicinity of my sight 24/7. And not getting on each others nerves or at loggerheads. Gasp! That’s definitely a winner there. I have also realized that you don’t need to gym it up or do yoga to stay fit. Doing all the household chores yourself can do just that without putting a dent in your pocket. But I also realized that I’m not a fitness freak after all. Go figure!

And the learning continues.. till the lockdown lasts. And hopefully beyond!