I am a lazy person. I have the best of my sleep after 5 am and I always struggle to wake up in the morning. Snoozing along with the snooze of the alarm is how my day begins everyday. I can spend hours together doing nothing but lazily browsing blogs after blogs or newspapers after newspapers or surfing TV channel after channel. I love sitting with a cup of coffee in my hand and reading newspaper till the coffee becomes cold.

Sitting and listening to A. R. Rahman’s songs on a high volume or happily losing myself in Sahana or Nattakurunji of Sanjay is how I prefer to spend my time. All work and studies deadlines have almost always had me having music for company even while I was working/studying. The work/study deadlines were the only ones that I met on a daily basis and I was doing a really good job of it.

I am a lover of tasty Indian vegetarian food, traditional sweets and savouries and desserts, but I never really ventured into the kitchen to cook till I had no option but to do it. My mother makes the yummiest of dishes and I have always been happy to be just its consumer.

I forget things easily. If I went to a room to, say, take two books, I will take just one, realize that I have forgotten the other one only after returning and go back again to take it or, even better, ask my sister to bring it for me. 😛 In short, I never get most things done in one go.

I love the very act of cleaning anything and I do a good job of it since I like to see a good result of my work. But cleaning only once in a blue moon was what I did and never cared to clean the computer table or even my Scooty on a regular basis.

I love going on long drives on car with good music and my family for company.

Overall, I was leading a happy, carefree and, more importantly, a lazy life in my own comfort zone that is Madras.

Before my own children, the last time I spent time with any small babies was at least two decades back and I was myself a child then. So, I had no clue about newborn babies or the fact that their turning around or rolling over were all milestones to be met at a later stage.

Cut back to July 2012 – my first tryst out of India, away from my home, my family, into a stranger-land that is Singapore and that too with a 7-month old baby to take care of. Though, in the 7 months of being a mother, I already knew that there was no way I could be lazy when it came to the feeding time or nap time of the baby and I would be rewarded only with a crying baby difficult to calm even if I caused a few minutes delay in feeding her or making her sleep, the lazy-me was really not prepared for the deadline after deadline that I would have to meet on a daily basis. Till then, I had other people with me who did a better job than me in making the baby sleep or taking care of the baby. Now, it was just me all through the day. I was the mother, the maid, the cook and the playtime companion.

As I sang songs after songs in vain trying to make my baby sleep, as I caused one mess after another in the kitchen all thanks to my clumsiness and inexperience, as I made one dish after another that was no way near the yummy taste of my mother’s cooking, as I struggled to overcome my dislike for cleaning the vessels and tried hard to leave a clear sink at least once, as I tried to make my little one eat at least some dish and felt a sense of accomplishment when she ate beyond a few spoonfuls of at least something, as I struggled with the ever-growing number of toys and had to pick it up all every time I swept or mopped the floor, there were way too many deadlines to be met with time and energy ever on the dwindling side. There was just no room for laziness any more. It was becoming a luxury.

Five years, one more kid and a lot more experience in household chores later, I can tell you that there is still no room for laziness, though I do grab snatches of it whenever I can.

Be it making sure that food is ready before the kids become too hungry or both the kids are fed on time all through the day or the frequent toilet visits or the running to catch the naughty little toddler before he opens the fridge and throws out a handful of dal or grabs a handful of chocolates and runs away or the running to catch the little one before he throws yet another toy out of the window or not postponing the sleep time of the kids lest they start showing their crankiness, the days are filled with way too many deadlines.

Even going out involves so much walking that even sitting lazily on a car has now become a luxury. My daughter just cannot travel in a taxi beyond a few minutes and we totally avoid taking it.

While the lazy-me still enjoys all those lazy moments of life, I am happy that I am leading an active lifestyle. The fact that I love going for long walks makes going out or walking at least 25 minutes everyday to make my little one sleep, not a difficult task, but an enjoyable one.