We are under a 21 day lock down as an effort by the government to curb the spread of Corona virus. It is a different life. The husband and I are working from home and there is no need to struggle through the Mumbai traffic every day. This doesn't necessarily translate into more time for ourselves. The house help is off like everyone else and so work from home is compounded by the work at home. We are spending a disproportionate amount of time on household chores. It gives us some opportunity to move the rusty joints and a strange satisfaction of exercising a greater control over our own home and lives. Like I said.. it isn't bad, just a different life.
Pari is home all day. I think that she is the one least affected by the lock down. She has already gone through the annual exams at school and therefore, any study related activity is blasphemy. The new teen is doing exactly what she does every summer vacations: precisely nothing! Leisure reading, TV & mobile phone games keep her happy and occupied. Pari has always been averse to any sort of physical activity. In the past, when I got too worked up, I threw her out of the house and shut the door on her face - which compelled her to go to the society park and spend sometime outdoors. I watched her from the window - she usually just dragged her lazy self to the park, parked herself on the bench and gossiped with our neighbor's daughter. On rare occasions, the two 11 & 13 yo's chose to amble around the park in a relaxed fashion. I cringed as the grandmother living on the 2nd floor overtook them and walked three rounds in the time our girls finish one. Anyways, those days are passe. I cannot send her out anymore and Pari is spending blissful days.
Continuous TV coupled with non-stop reading fills her head with strange ideas. Last evening, I was wrapping up work('office', household work doesn't get over, ever!) when I suddenly realized that it is almost 6 pm and Pari hasn't had anything since lunch. I turned around and posed some rhetorical questions..
Me: Pari, did you get milk?
Pari: (Nodding slowly) No.
M: Did you eat any snacks?
P: (Nodding even more slowly, creating the slo-mo effect) No. Nothing!
M: Aww.. poor baby!(sympathetic noises) You must be hungry!
P: (dramatic drawling) Mumma.. have we become destitute's?
M: (shot my 'are you crazy' look, it is less than 3 hours since the last meal)??
P: (realizing that she may have used a wrong word) Or have we become prostitutes?
M: (shaken, but firm) Neither. We haven't become anything yet.. we are just hungry!
I really need to check the books that she has been buying and reading on Kindle. My control over our home and lives is already lost..
Pari is home all day. I think that she is the one least affected by the lock down. She has already gone through the annual exams at school and therefore, any study related activity is blasphemy. The new teen is doing exactly what she does every summer vacations: precisely nothing! Leisure reading, TV & mobile phone games keep her happy and occupied. Pari has always been averse to any sort of physical activity. In the past, when I got too worked up, I threw her out of the house and shut the door on her face - which compelled her to go to the society park and spend sometime outdoors. I watched her from the window - she usually just dragged her lazy self to the park, parked herself on the bench and gossiped with our neighbor's daughter. On rare occasions, the two 11 & 13 yo's chose to amble around the park in a relaxed fashion. I cringed as the grandmother living on the 2nd floor overtook them and walked three rounds in the time our girls finish one. Anyways, those days are passe. I cannot send her out anymore and Pari is spending blissful days.
Continuous TV coupled with non-stop reading fills her head with strange ideas. Last evening, I was wrapping up work('office', household work doesn't get over, ever!) when I suddenly realized that it is almost 6 pm and Pari hasn't had anything since lunch. I turned around and posed some rhetorical questions..
Me: Pari, did you get milk?
Pari: (Nodding slowly) No.
M: Did you eat any snacks?
P: (Nodding even more slowly, creating the slo-mo effect) No. Nothing!
M: Aww.. poor baby!(sympathetic noises) You must be hungry!
P: (dramatic drawling) Mumma.. have we become destitute's?
M: (shot my 'are you crazy' look, it is less than 3 hours since the last meal)??
P: (realizing that she may have used a wrong word) Or have we become prostitutes?
M: (shaken, but firm) Neither. We haven't become anything yet.. we are just hungry!
I really need to check the books that she has been buying and reading on Kindle. My control over our home and lives is already lost..
