Priorities and some of the parts...
Hello all, obviously undergoing a thinking up headlines crisis. I don't write too often and also
seem to forget some happenings, perhaps nothing very relevant in the first place...and futile to capture it all.
Just back from a Mumbai visit. I did ask, but since no one here could take care of the kids for 3-4 days, the time I needed to be there, headed to parents' place first. Kids stayed with Nani, who in between her chemos had bravely offered to take care of them. I am infinitely grateful, and at the same time was selfishly looking forward to the solo outing I would have without kids, yes, it has been so long. They missed out 9 days of school because of this arrangement and half of their monthly reviews. It is indeed a lot to catch up with.
There are a lot of fluid boundaries in life. One of them is me being at home, exploring what to do, but holding back on taking up anything full time without having support and care for kids. This year, being a crucial year for lil G in school, I am exploring home-based opportunities only. The problem is that unless you don't dress up and leave the house, people think you are doing nothing. And with no support it is tough to go 100 percent - a classic chicken and egg situation.
The kitchen is a potential background where power struggles play out. Always has been for women, I guess. I have taken up the task of cooking for the entire extended family not very enthusiastically, as slowly but surely I became the defacto chef. On some days I do it with minimal good grace I can muster. Because there is no respite mostly or help is seldom or convenience-based. A couple of times I was down with viral fever and no one thought of making me a cup of tea! Collaborative work can be such a wonderful thing and in spite of a quasi-joint family set up if one can't optimise on this, it is a big letdown. Bigger so, personally. This experience reminds me of workplaces where people in the team have anything but work as priority and how once you take on any work not yours it automatically becomes part of your JD and your annual review!!!
But back to Mumbai trip, everything about it was fun. To stay in one's own home, the once so familiar surroundings, a way of life long gone... there was lots to unlearn, relearn, reacquaint oneself with. I even meet some old schoolmates in Mumbai after more than 20 years' time, thanks to a new Whatsapp group we've formed. That was the highlight of my visit. School has always been that place, that building, and these people in all my memories and associations, though I was a very shy, keeping to myself kid.
Packing was done with the aid of a list. Kids enjoyed the break of sorts and now we are struggling to catch up, will take a few days. Big G had made a painting for Nani. Not to be outdone lil G too had made valiant attempts on A4 papers.
One more thing I have started and keeping fingers crossed that I continue with is Yoga. It helps me in being calm, also realised have been doing the Suryanamaskar quite wrong all this while. On our walk from school to get an auto, kids and me pass a temple, with a cute miniature statue of a calf on the wall and pause to admire the lotus pond. We call it so, but it is pink lilies that grow there and that ritual is something I really look forward to. The temple has Neem and Peepal trees, both my favourites and also the Nagalinga and Fig trees. This brief interaction with nature is my favourite part of the day.
Anticipation and hope are such lovely feelings and this journey helped me dwell on life which rushes by. Train journeys with the windows open, fields whizzing past, birds, and the life and lives outside help in bringing a perspective better than other things, in my book, that is.
Now back to routine and some of that high propels me through it all.
.
seem to forget some happenings, perhaps nothing very relevant in the first place...and futile to capture it all.
Just back from a Mumbai visit. I did ask, but since no one here could take care of the kids for 3-4 days, the time I needed to be there, headed to parents' place first. Kids stayed with Nani, who in between her chemos had bravely offered to take care of them. I am infinitely grateful, and at the same time was selfishly looking forward to the solo outing I would have without kids, yes, it has been so long. They missed out 9 days of school because of this arrangement and half of their monthly reviews. It is indeed a lot to catch up with.
There are a lot of fluid boundaries in life. One of them is me being at home, exploring what to do, but holding back on taking up anything full time without having support and care for kids. This year, being a crucial year for lil G in school, I am exploring home-based opportunities only. The problem is that unless you don't dress up and leave the house, people think you are doing nothing. And with no support it is tough to go 100 percent - a classic chicken and egg situation.
The kitchen is a potential background where power struggles play out. Always has been for women, I guess. I have taken up the task of cooking for the entire extended family not very enthusiastically, as slowly but surely I became the defacto chef. On some days I do it with minimal good grace I can muster. Because there is no respite mostly or help is seldom or convenience-based. A couple of times I was down with viral fever and no one thought of making me a cup of tea! Collaborative work can be such a wonderful thing and in spite of a quasi-joint family set up if one can't optimise on this, it is a big letdown. Bigger so, personally. This experience reminds me of workplaces where people in the team have anything but work as priority and how once you take on any work not yours it automatically becomes part of your JD and your annual review!!!
But back to Mumbai trip, everything about it was fun. To stay in one's own home, the once so familiar surroundings, a way of life long gone... there was lots to unlearn, relearn, reacquaint oneself with. I even meet some old schoolmates in Mumbai after more than 20 years' time, thanks to a new Whatsapp group we've formed. That was the highlight of my visit. School has always been that place, that building, and these people in all my memories and associations, though I was a very shy, keeping to myself kid.
Packing was done with the aid of a list. Kids enjoyed the break of sorts and now we are struggling to catch up, will take a few days. Big G had made a painting for Nani. Not to be outdone lil G too had made valiant attempts on A4 papers.
One more thing I have started and keeping fingers crossed that I continue with is Yoga. It helps me in being calm, also realised have been doing the Suryanamaskar quite wrong all this while. On our walk from school to get an auto, kids and me pass a temple, with a cute miniature statue of a calf on the wall and pause to admire the lotus pond. We call it so, but it is pink lilies that grow there and that ritual is something I really look forward to. The temple has Neem and Peepal trees, both my favourites and also the Nagalinga and Fig trees. This brief interaction with nature is my favourite part of the day.
Anticipation and hope are such lovely feelings and this journey helped me dwell on life which rushes by. Train journeys with the windows open, fields whizzing past, birds, and the life and lives outside help in bringing a perspective better than other things, in my book, that is.
Now back to routine and some of that high propels me through it all.
.
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