Lock down Sky

Yup! Successfully completed two months of covid-19 lockdown today. Honestly in the beginning I didn’t know what the fuss was all about? How difficult could it be for people to be home for a week? When the announcement came that it was going to be a month, the thoughts started processing. 

I cooked and ate so much in the first one month that my brain was also confused whether my body was hungry or my brain was bored. I followed all the food channels I could find on Instagram. I even managed to pass the Dalgona coffee challenge but somehow missed the Insta-herd on mango ice-cream and banana chocolate bread. However much my heart desired to try these recipes at home, my hands just wouldn’t co-operate with all the whipping thoughts even though I own an electric blender! So I skipped the race and wandered on my own. 

I painted mindlessly sometimes and with all concentration on other times. It must have been what kept me sane, I told myself because if you have forgotten(which I could never), I now had three brats at home all to myself whereas sometime ago I had the home all to myself.Suddenly I had to be appropriately dressed at all times and also behave normally to the 3 people who share my space.I had to cook all the meals and even clean the mess. Did I lose it at some point? Does it even leave a doubt? Duh! Obviously I did. (This is how my daughter speaks now and I have picked it up in two months.) 

We also did a lot of binge-watching in the initial days. We watched all those tv-series which had red coloured wool spun around the hundreds of pin heads on the wide board. It felt like crimes could never be solved without all the red thread going here and there. 

So we split the chores. Initially it was a 50-50 responsibility but eventually only the dishes went to the husband and everything else was on me but I was happy. The dishes, I have to agree are the worst! The laundry pile wasn’t getting any smaller either, even though we were home all the time. It was peak summer and the girl is growing up, she likes to dress up all the time. The least contribution was from the boy. If he was in dirty clothes, I let him be until the bath-time the next day. He didn’t seem to mind, why should I? 

Did I consider home schooling in all these days? NO. “Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah! Nah nah nah nah. Going on a mission. Going on a mission.” If you know this song from one of the cartoon channels on TV, you will relate to my insanity. If you have a spare laptop at home for the children you will understand how incredibly blessed I am. If you always hear, “come, play with me.” you will understand why God gave you hair and why I keep losing so much. By the way, I am still waiting on the school to pass on some work sheets for these kids. Something that I can print off (though I wouldn’t agree on normal days given my thoughts on saving trees, who cares, I thought the world needs to survive anyways) and pass it on to the children and have them sit on their desk for sometime. 

It took us two months to get clarity. The past week has been really productive work wise. I have got a hang of cooking minimalistic and saving every last portion for another meal.I have learnt to ignore the kids’ belongings on the floor.I have learnt that until the girl at home starts sneezing I don’t have to dust the shelves. This gives me more time to spend time at my desk. More time for my thoughts, words, paints, books and laptop. I hope you too find your way to your corner where you can be yourself. Unwind and rejuvenate. Spend some time for exercises and work harder everyday. Stay home as much as possible and let us fight this monster together. 

P.S. Respect to all the warriors who are out of their homes trying to keep us safe.