If there is one thing that almost every person who visits you post the birth of your baby tell you, it’s ‘You should take rest and nap when the baby sleeps’. It’s another fact that when you have at least one more person who can take care of the baby, you can rest even when the baby is awake. The problem arises when you are the only one with the baby the whole day and you have a dozen household chores waiting to be done at any given point of time. So every time the baby takes a nap, you would be rushing to do as much as possible and before you are even half way through your chores, the baby would be wide awake feeling refreshed.

Now that my little one is almost two and a half years old and his nowadays-rare daytime naps are always when his sister is back from school, finding a bit of a free time for myself has become a rarity. Today is one of those rare days when my little one is now having his daytime nap and I don’t have much to be done. Ok if I want, I can dust the windows, iron the clothes, etc. But I have decided that all those can wait. Here I am, all set to type away everything that I wanted to in the last two weeks.

Ok so it has been about 12 days since I wrote something here. And how have these 12 days been? The first few days of August were nice and relaxing. But, last week, there were several instances when I was whining aloud a bit, though I did cut it short within a few words. But I definitely did not do it in a loud voice. So, yes, I am improving. But, nowadays, I feel that I am talking a bit more than I should be.

Last week saw both my kids falling sick with fever which meant sleepless nights for the kids and me and crying spells from them. Add to it those rainy days. It meant we couldn’t get our much-needed outdoor play time. So, yes, we were all in a bit of a lousy mood. A school holiday in the middle of the week which turned out to be a rainy day further added to the lousiness. Hmmm, so were these the reasons why I was in a bit of a whining mode myself? No proper sleep meant there was a need to keep at least a bit of a conversation going all through the day (and night too!) with my kids. At two different instances during our nowadays brief-phone-calls, my sister reminded me that my volume level and the tone of my voice needed to be minded.

There were those good moments too with regard to my progress on improving my patience levels and controlling my anger and stress levels. When my daughter had her full-blown crying spell last week, I remained calm throughout, did not raise my voice and did not make the mistake of giving any advice to her. I always get so much stressed out in trying to find ways to calm her down as soon as possible that I would keep talking with her all through the crying spell. It would either be ‘well-meaning advice’ or some more shouting from my side as well! Last week, I not only did not utter any unwanted words, I also remained calm deep-down. My daughter’s crying spells apart, I always get provoked easily. I seem to be improving on that area as well, though I have a long way to go. Unruffled, will I ever be?

Another good thing which has been happening is we have started reaching school on time without rushing on the way. But, there were a few days when I should have reduced my talking further while getting my daughter ready to school.

Anyway, now that both my kids are back to normal and we are all slowly catching up on our lost sleep, I hope that this week turns out to be better. Also, writing here will definitely help me remember to not do any unwanted continuous-talking.

So I sit and, at first, slowly and then in a lightning speed type my previous post on Kelantan Road, all the while looking at the clock. Then, once I finish, I take a final glance at the clock – 2:43 pm. On normal days, I would have started rushing since I know I have only two minutes left to leave for school to pick up my daughter. But, today, I decide not to rush, especially, right after writing here that I will work on not rushing.

So I don’t rush and still reach the school on time. Here’s to further reducing my rushing and, more importantly, controlling my tongue even if I am rushing!

Just like every other person, weekday mornings are the craziest time for me too. The main part of the day when I do all the talking, shouting, rushing and running starts from the moment I wake up my daughter. It doesn’t stop till my son and I come back home after dropping her in school.

Having always been like ‘Jab We Met’ Kareena Kapoor who rushes and catches her train, getting ready in leisure and walking to the bus stop unhurriedly has never been something that I have done in almost the last decade! Even when I didn’t have any commitment in life or any cooking or household chore to be done! But just like Kareena, I always managed to catch the bus on time. 🙂
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All through my school, there was one complaint from all the teachers – I didn’t talk at all! Anybody who knows me when I was in school would know that except for a few close friends, I hardly talked with anybody else. Any guests at home would always wonder why I never talked.

Though I changed a bit over the years from a complete introvert to, say, a semi-introvert, it was only in the last few years that I changed for the worse – of course, I didn’t stop and chat with every Tom, Dick and Harry I met, but I was suddenly using my voice all the time.
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As I collected my daughter’s new uniforms for her next academic year yesterday, I felt a wave of nostalgia. Of a longing for all those happy, carefree school days. Seeing the excitement on my daughter’s face while trying out her new uniforms, I remembered my own excitement. About how the summer vacations were always synonymous with getting new uniforms, getting new school books, covering them and choosing and sticking labels on each of them. And how each one of them seemed to be an important and exciting activity to both my sister and me. We both enjoyed going to school and rarely took leave. My daughter has taken after us and hates taking even a single day leave.

The smell of crisp, new clothes and new books, the excitement among the kids as each one got to find out which ‘House’ in their school they were assigned to, the cramped up room housing the new uniforms and books, the staff busy answering the queries of one parent and helping the other one get their new uniforms – the busy atmosphere always seen during these times in schools! It did bring back a lot of pleasant memories!

Back then, we never cared about new beginnings or taking a much-needed break for rejuvenating yourself for new beginnings! Starting primary school or joining a new school or the onset of holidays were just a part of life. Nobody around you kept talking about weekend or vacation plans. Nobody felt the need to document any thoughts, memories or opinions! Was there Facebook or WhatsApp back then?!

Wishing all you wonderful women a very happy women’s day!