Someone asked me recently what do I do at home all day? This someone was a working woman who seems somewhat smug in the knowledge that she can count her time well spent at a high paying job. So that got me thinking about just what I did all day. I know I’m busy, but doing what? Here’s a rundown of what happened today. And happens almost every day in my life.
I get up in the morning and make karela juice. No I don’t drink it, it is for Jamshed. He’s got his medicals end of the month and is keen to show his doctors that he is not diabetic. Then I fill his tiffin box with sprouts and put it on the table from where he’d put it into his briefcase on the way out. If it is not there when he’s on his way out, he’s not going to carry it with him.
Next I started beating an egg with castor sugar for Rehaan’s egg flip. The so called cure for his long running cough, not that I see any difference in the cough. Anyway I get his tiffin packed and put it into his school bag. Fill his water bottle with water and shove it down the side of the bag in its pocket.
By that time Jamshed is ready to leave and I say goodbye to him and lock the door behind him. I head over to Rehaan and wake him up. Get him to drink the egg flip while he’s still groggy and does not know what is added to his Bournvita. Then he goes back to sleep for a while and I get his uniform in order and polish his shoes. Put on the computer to see if the internet is working.
Wake him up again and march him to the loo. Get him ready and feed him a couple of spoons of dalia till he protests. Then drop him to the bus stop. Chit chat with the ladies who have come to drop the kids. Crib about the heat and the humidity and walk back yakking about the ladies club or AFWWA coming up next. Decline invitations from the other mothers to come for a cup of tea and go home.
Then I get onto the computer and check my mail. See what news bits I have to write up for the day. Check on other assignments from employers. Look at comments that my articles on revenue sharing sites have got. Catch up with the latest status messages on Facebook. Then I begin work. Half way through I’ll go to put the daal into the pressure cooker. Three whistles to cook.
Back to writing. Again take a break when I get hungry and eat a sandwich or something. Finish about five posts and move onto a break with online games. Here come Treasure Island, Café World, Mafia Wars, Farmville and Word Twist. Then I move back to check my tarot site mail. See who wants a free tarot reading done and for what problem. Do a short reading for them and mail them the answers.
Again take a break from the computer and head over to the kitchen as the maid comes in. Tell her what I want her to do today and then come back to the computer after giving the daal tadka. Curse the internet speed when I see how much of a torrent has been downloaded from the last movie I am trying to download. Then I move back to work. Speak with my mom when she calls during the day. Write a blog post for one of my blogs.
The fauji phone rings. It is an officer’s birthday, says Jamshed, would you bake a chocolate cake? I’ll take it when I come home for lunch. Okay. Now I take out the eggs and butter to bring them to room temperature. Make the sabji for lunch and return to rush through a couple of more articles before its time for me to get Rehaan from the bus stop. I wave bye to the maid as my other hand flies over the keyboard.
I take the walk to the bus stop in the blistering heat and wonder when the bus will get there. Get Rehaan as he bounces out of the bus. He is sweating so much that his entire back is soaked and the shirt is a shade darker. Bring him home and give him a bath. Feed him lunch. The fauji phone rings again. I need to rig up a paper game for the ladies club and send it over to someone to take enough printouts.
Then I get back to work. Its play time for Rehaan while I wind up work for the day. Next finish baking the chocolate cake with Rehaan’s help. Call Jamshed to check if he is coming home for lunch after its 3 and then eat lunch alone. He can’t come home, and someone will drop by to pick up the cake I baked. Then I make Rehaan sit down to do his home work.
By the time we are finished the maid is back. So off he goes to the park on his cycle. I go sabji shopping and pick up bread on the way. Next I welcome home Jamshed and give him a cup of tea with cake or biscuits. He’s skipped lunch after all. Now I get into the kitchen to cook dinner. As soon as I finish Rehaan is back. Again I need to bathe him and feed him. Now Jamshed goes for his walk. I sit and read Sai Satcharitra as I have to complete my saptah.
By the time he gets back its time for dinner and some television. The air conditioner comes on in the bedroom and I fall into bed exhausted. It is time to see a movie on the laptop with the full family, then its lights out. And no I’m not a working woman in the traditional sense of the word, but I’d like to see that smug woman cram more into her life.
Recent Comments