Maid for each-other
by Vijai Pant
On the verge of the silver
jubilee celebrations of our happy married life,
we had hardly indulged in romanticism the filmi type-
you know, what is termed as ‘made for each
other’, till the time COVID-19 gatecrashed,
with its seismic effects, luckily not the
destruction in its trail, into our home, sweet
home. Now, you would say that the pandemic is
here, there and everywhere, and not just in our
home. True enough, but then there would be very
few couples pinning their hopes on their grown up
children, as is the norm, to literally make a
‘song and dance’ of the re-run of our
marriage anniversary. The whole plan has now gone
kaput and with that our one last opportunity to
show to the world our ‘made for each other’
love.
Thanks to the ‘novel’
coronavirus and the government locking us down in
our home we are now expressing our love for one
another in ‘novel’ ways. But then did
we have any other choice in the matter? The first
few days she had to coax me to get going, but now
I have settled well into the daily rhythm of
sweeping, dusting and mopping- all these coming
under my sole command. Once the meals are done
with, the overflowing utensils in the scullery
patiently await my vigorous rub and rinse
procedure. It is only natural that the finer
aspects of the household chores she has kept to
herself, while the brawny part comes to me.
Initially, when the
lockdown started, I missed the kaam wali
bai and the mali, but
now in hindsight I think that giving them paid
leave, without any nudge from those who had
called COVID-19 that once in a lifetime
opportunity (good that there won’t be more)
to show our generous side, has definitely worked
wonders for our love, bringing the ‘sizzle’
and the ‘simmer’ back into things.
Without that fancy WFH
chasing me down, like it is doing the others, I
am gainfully employing my waking hours to the
fulfilment of some of those household tasks,
which I had never acknowledged nor appreciated.
When she compliments me on the gleaming utensils
and the spick and span rooms, I burst forth my
toothy grin, feeling more elated, perhaps, than
that pat on the back by your boss in the company
for having done the work well.
As for me, I never quite
knew that she had been constantly upgrading her
culinary skills and was well versed with all
types of dishes. I name it and she makes it.
There may be no chance of the grand 25th celebrations
as planned earlier, but then I think there’s
no need now to tell the world that we are made
for each other. With ‘stay home, stay safe’
trending, you’ll not be able to drop in any
time soon to see for yourself how happy we are
having found our ‘work-life balance’ at
last.
Truly, ‘maid for each-other’,
I would say.
|
