Not an easy job at all « makeSplash.com by Sush Jaitly

Not an easy job at all

October 29th, 2009

When I say it’s not an easy job keeping everybody happy in a household of four people you’ll probably think I’m kidding. No, I am dead serious. It’s not a game keeping all sides of this square in place. Actually there are only three people, my two kids and my hubby. I am the fourth one. You’ll think that if just three people can dislodge my cart of peace how’ll I manage those hundreds and thousands which I’ll be dealing with once I open my Event Management Company. I feel it will be a piece of cake compared to managing this trio. Believe me guys, they have an uncanny way of crashing any successful management system. And the beauty of the situation is that they do it unknowingly.

By the time I finish telling you about one not so normal day of my life you’ll more than agree with me. I get up at 5 am, depending on whether the alarm goes off first or Aleena cries out for her bottle of milk, which is more often the case. If its Aleena I try to pacify her and tuck her back in her cot and try to get some more sleep, but generally thats not the case as my toddler wails out loud for milk. If I don’t wake the second time then Manish nudges me to get up and go. Off course, I then have no choice. As I get up for her milk, Manish groggily tells me to also make tea for him, without even opening his eyes. I somehow tumble out off the bed, half asleep and drag myself to the kitchen.

As I step out of my bedroom I’m greeted by a smiling Ganesha, who sits on the dining area shelf and is the first smiling face I meet every morning who doesn’t want me to make anything for him. His smile and non demanding existence gives me strength to carry on despite less sleep and rest. While Aleena’s milk is warming and the tea is brewing I manage a few stretches in the kitchen to ready myself for the demanding day that lies ahead of me. I take Aleena’s milk and whisper in Manish’s ear to go out silently to the kitchen and have his tea. He sneaks out trying not to make noise but generally fails as his dragging of slippers is enough to wake up Aleena. This time she gets what she wants and settles comfortably in my laps to devour her first feed of the day.

Once she’s had her fill she there’s a possibility that she might just go back to sleep, if it’s my lucky day. Else, on most days she prefers to be fully awake and start her day early. God only knows why she’s in such big hurry to get up even as I’m dying for another hour of sleep. And when she’s awake she goes about her business as usual. By business I mean her susu and potty which rules out any doubts that I may have of getting any more sleep. In between the rounds of the loo to wash her and change her clothes I manage to do some pranayam. If I’m awake I might as well make some good use of my morning. And I swear these breathing exercises really help me with maintaining my calm and stamina during the day.

By 6 am its time to wake up my first born Mansie because she has to leave for school by 6.45 am. Now waking up Mansie and getting her to have her bath, breakfast and then ensuring that she gets ready in time to catch her bus is not an easy job at all, on any given day, round the year. She has this habit of buying time, two or three minutes before any given work and keeps lazing around the house. Eventually she has to be literally pushed or dragged into doing what she must. I and Manish try very hard not to loose our cool but since she just doesn’t move on her own in the morning we have no option. She is more interested in doing what doesn’t need to be done at that point of time like counting how many pigeons are sitting on the ledge, playing with Aleena, colouring her drawings etc. She might also suddenly remember that she needs a new pencil or an eraser as Aleena chewed on her previous one or she needs new crayons as half of them have been broken by none other than Aleena.

Off course not to forget that Aleena is equally active at her business. So, in the middle of getting Mansie ready she too needs to be attended to, else she runs away with Mansie’s uniform, tiffin, water bottle, shoes or whatever she can lay her hands on. She actually demands for her share in Mansie’s breakfast and takes it for granted to be readied along with Mansie so that she can go along with my husband to drop Mansie to her bus stop. Despite this chaos of getting two girls ready and fed, I somehow manage to get them out of the door in time. Sometimes Manish and Aleena leave before with Mansie’s bag to halt her bus with Mansie running afterwards to catch up with them, with her sandwich in her hand. PHEW!!!!!!

One out, one to go. Manish leaves for office by 8 am. Easier said than done. Because in the ten minutes that he will take to drop Mansie and get back with Aleena in tow, I got to accomplish a few things. Firstly, go brush my teeth, wash my face and clear the mess Aleena has already made in the last one and a half hour. Plus the tea has to be ready. Manish wants another cup on returning and remember! I still haven’t had my first cuppa yet. Where was the time, man? While I have my cuppa in peace, you guys also take a break…….I’ll fill you up on what follows as Manish and Aleena are going to be back in five minutes………….