Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Domestic Goddess!!



domesticity can sometimes get the best or the worst of us....and it has nothing to you with your marital status or the lack of it......its just that sometimes domesticity is like a canvas of an artist and something that we are in complete control of.... we do up our homes and maintain them the best we can, establish systems to run them smoothly...cook, clean and basically never grown up from our favourite childhood game of "playing house" .... we love it when people pay us compliments and tell us that we keep it well... we love it, bask in it and our cup runneth over!! i'm no different i guess...this morning's rant is because there is a fly in my overflowing cup......my cell phone weilding maid is as integral to my domestic pride as my ego!! she's the one who executes all that i cant.... i especially hate doing house work....i wash clothes and neaten up after she leaves, i also love pottering in the kitchen...hey i am a food blogger!!....but give me one too many days of vessel washing and you've gotten yourself one crabby woman!! boy!! god really must love you to see you through this all!! ask K, somedays he wont even know what's hit him when the crab in me takes over like a mutant.....i just wonder just sometimes as to what i would do if i didnt have devi(current one), or padma, rama or the scores of other women who have restored my pride ....ofcourse if i know there wont be anyone to clean the plates and the pressure cooker after me.... my use of them would change drastically..... with the dredging going on in the 9 acre plot next door, it hasnt helped the dust that settles on everything.....those are the two vital things that can absolutely propel me into a foul mood.... coming back to cell phone weilding Devi, she took leave for a few days because she wanted to go see her mother who wasnt well, when i inquired as to what had happened, she said her mother had been under the influence of "black magic"........this meant travel back to her native place and she brought in a temporary replacement....for which i was sooooo thankful, because this seldom happens.....i cant ask for the moon and was happy for this much...yes i believe in counting my blessings..... but over the weekend we didnt have much for her to do so i sent her away, on sunday she saw the house locked as we stayed over at S's....which meant that i have a sinkful of dirty dishes and an unswept floor that are both staring at me.....telling me to do something..... else all the tall claims that i have silently made will be crushed to death.... it begins to deplete your self worth and then everything you have identified with comes to a naught....

there's this unexplained trait we have...we take pride in doing what we're doing at home....like i said before it is our canvas...yet when things as mundane as the maid not turning up happens, it can send you into a tizzy...suddenly you begin to measure yourself against soiled dishes.....you begin to think that you are the only one slaving around the house while the better half prefers to plaster himself in front of the TV (no matter if he's put it on a few seconds ago) , that you've given up everything to take care of the home and hearth and here you stand, unappreciated infront of a sinkfull of dirty dishes.... you try silent forms of protest....like sulking...and banging things on the countertop a little more than usual......hoping that the one growing roots on the couch with notice.... he doesn't ....(haven't we been told that men can never understand anything unless it is as subtle as a sledgehammer??)...and we sulk some more.....

we think of all the missed opportunities...all that we've given up for where we choose to be....generally feel like the martyr...and oh boy, revel in this.....we feel taken for granted by everyone at every stage of life...and the final nail in the coffin being taken for a royal ride by the maid.....the fact of the matter being, most often when the maid is back and you've screamed at her...and the housework is done and everything on your canvas is back in shining order..... we're still sulking.....and still being crabby....

P.S: this happens to me....i generally vent on K, poor baby...cant understand why i am so agitated about domestic mundaneness.... but i thought i'd spare him since i had the blog..... the replacement temp maid is back while i type this and i can hear her washing the vessels.... my ego and sanity are slowly being restored

P.S: no in my sanity i dont measure myself against the dust on the curios......but well....i sometimes love to sulk....its like meditation....

2 comments:

Swaroopa said...

nice post!! neatly presented...thanx 4 visitin my blog.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog, Arundati. By the way, this happens to most of us, sometime or the other!