When the feet aches….

Literally. It is no fun being on your toes almost the whole day. Navaratri is here and we were having friends over in the evening. The menu for the evening was simple – Badam Katli and kondakadalai (Channa) sundal. Making these didn’t take much time and hey, it did turn out yummy, even if I may say so myself!

But what took extra time was all the cleaning that I had to do. Leave a clean kitchen sink, scrub the bathrooms a bit more extra, sweep/mop the floor, cook the brunch and dinner well ahead, feed my children on time, pick up the toys strewn all around the house and sort them even as I was picking them up, get the tamboolam ready for the evening, dress up the children and the list goes on. Oh yes, there is nothing special about any of these tasks and everyone does it.

But even as my feet craved for rest, I managed to wrap it all up by 4, take bath and get ready. Even as the last of the friends left by 10 pm, I quickly went about making chapathi, feeding my kids their dinner, again washing the last set of vessels for the day and leaving behind a clean sink and kitchen countertop and then making my little one sleep.

A glance at the clock said the time was 11 30 pm. Sleep eluded and I decided to simply sit back and relax and ended up typing this.

As I reflect through my day’s activities, I realize that I have become far more patient and a lot more efficient when it comes to doing all these chores. Yes, I did complain maybe twice through the day about some tasks I had to do. Don’t you know that habits die hard? But I didn’t go beyond a couple of sentences.

Cut back to some months back when I would have narrated out loud all through the day about what to do next, how I wished the kids had a lot less toys and how they could arrange it themselves, how I would have ended up in a shouting spree when a spill or a mess happened right after I finished cleaning even if I was the cause for the mess, etc., etc.

These apart, I would have procrastinated some of the extra organizing work which always comes along with any cleaning. Today, I don’t. I put things back in their correct place even as I clean.

That is the reason why it is a contented-me who is typing these now even though the feet aches. Because, in the end, it was all worth it and we all had a great time catching up with friends.

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