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Lockdown made you realize mom works very hard
We all want a happy and lavish life but do we ever consider how we can get that? The truth is most
of us don’t. We only like to enjoy the comfort of our lives, but are not bothered to be grateful to the
people who make that kind of life available to us. Life has its own way of letting us know things that
are important to our existence. I had this realization during the ‘lockdown’ period.
While to most people, the lockdown has been more of a difficult time, but for me, it has been one of the most fruitful phases of my life till date. I consider it to be one of the most significant learning chapters of my life. Apart from becoming self-dependent, the other vital thing I came to realize was how much effort my mother puts in to make things smoothly function in my family.
Prior to this ‘house arrest’ of a kind, my daily routine involved going to school and for my tuition classes. I hardly had time to think about anything else about home. The clothes I wore, I found them clean and neatly ironed; the food I ate, I found it incredibly delicious. Even my own room, despite leaving it in a mess, I always found it neat and properly done up when I returned home. I was used to seeing perfection in everything around at home; little did I recognise the hands behind achieving this perfection.
One day during the lockdown, as I was staring at the television and browsing through the channels looking for something interesting; I was drawn towards a tasty smell. I could not resist it and made my way towards the scent; eventually, I entered the not so visited area of my house – the kitchen. On my first visit, I only concentrated on what was cooking. I asked my mother what delicious dishes were being prepared for the day. When she told me what they were, I was very excited. But what changed my outlook towards life was when she asked me to wait there and watch her cook. For some unknown reason, I agreed and stayed on.
I must mention here that I belong to a family of foodies; we all love to eat. And my mom says she loves to feed us. But that day, I understood the kind of effort she had to put into cooking the lip- smacking food that we all devoured. I could see her juggle between chopping vegetables, preparing the spices and other things needed for cooking the dishes; and in between stirring that which was already cooking on the gas stove. I could barely gauge the speed and precision at which she was multi-tasking. And not to forget, the constant response at the beck and call of my father or grandmother, that she had to handle.
Turning down the flame on each oven and checking if the vegetables and fish had been cooked properly, along with the seasoning; this was all too much according to me. For once I thought I was dreaming; but soon realized that this lady, who I call mother, was nothing less than a magician. She would almost run in and out of the kitchen, running other errands in between. One unique thing I noticed about her was that she regularly monitored the time. On seeing her frequently looking at the clock in the kitchen, I asked her that why she did so. Even in that utterly tiring situation, she answered me with a smile that she had to get the food ready for everyone on time.
I further enquired why it was so, to which she replied so that she could complete the other chores around the house and serve food to everyone latest by 1:00 pm. I was shocked and thoroughly ashamed of myself. I immediately hugged her and said sorry; she was surprised and asked me what happened to me. I apologized once again and told her that I was feeling embarrassed as I had never imagined earlier how hard she worked to make everything the way it was in the house.
Then I went into my room and took the decision that, be it lockdown or not; I was going to make sure that I keep my room spick and span. I would do my bit of daily chores which included keeping my things in place, keeping my wardrobe well settled and cleaning my room. In this way I will be able to help my mother in some ways. I even took the oath to help in the kitchen whenever I could as well as tending to other smaller chores in the house, such as watering the plants, dusting the couch or even helping in putting out the clothes to dry.
While I had planned to become more useful in the house, I even urged my father to make Sunday a holiday for my mother. I proposed that he and I would try our hands at cooking whatever little we could so that our ‘kitchen queen’ could enjoy a weekly rest day. Gladly my father agreed, and since then we have been practicing it.
It is imperative as we grow up in life to open our minds not just to the world outside our houses but also within our homes. I have learnt that a house becomes a home only with the united efforts of all the family members of the house. I am happy that I have this newfound sense of gratitude and respect in my heart towards my mother, and there is nothing in this world that can be of more value than her. With this new zeal, I feel I am a more productive and happier person these days.
© Arked
While to most people, the lockdown has been more of a difficult time, but for me, it has been one of the most fruitful phases of my life till date. I consider it to be one of the most significant learning chapters of my life. Apart from becoming self-dependent, the other vital thing I came to realize was how much effort my mother puts in to make things smoothly function in my family.
Prior to this ‘house arrest’ of a kind, my daily routine involved going to school and for my tuition classes. I hardly had time to think about anything else about home. The clothes I wore, I found them clean and neatly ironed; the food I ate, I found it incredibly delicious. Even my own room, despite leaving it in a mess, I always found it neat and properly done up when I returned home. I was used to seeing perfection in everything around at home; little did I recognise the hands behind achieving this perfection.
One day during the lockdown, as I was staring at the television and browsing through the channels looking for something interesting; I was drawn towards a tasty smell. I could not resist it and made my way towards the scent; eventually, I entered the not so visited area of my house – the kitchen. On my first visit, I only concentrated on what was cooking. I asked my mother what delicious dishes were being prepared for the day. When she told me what they were, I was very excited. But what changed my outlook towards life was when she asked me to wait there and watch her cook. For some unknown reason, I agreed and stayed on.
I must mention here that I belong to a family of foodies; we all love to eat. And my mom says she loves to feed us. But that day, I understood the kind of effort she had to put into cooking the lip- smacking food that we all devoured. I could see her juggle between chopping vegetables, preparing the spices and other things needed for cooking the dishes; and in between stirring that which was already cooking on the gas stove. I could barely gauge the speed and precision at which she was multi-tasking. And not to forget, the constant response at the beck and call of my father or grandmother, that she had to handle.
Turning down the flame on each oven and checking if the vegetables and fish had been cooked properly, along with the seasoning; this was all too much according to me. For once I thought I was dreaming; but soon realized that this lady, who I call mother, was nothing less than a magician. She would almost run in and out of the kitchen, running other errands in between. One unique thing I noticed about her was that she regularly monitored the time. On seeing her frequently looking at the clock in the kitchen, I asked her that why she did so. Even in that utterly tiring situation, she answered me with a smile that she had to get the food ready for everyone on time.
I further enquired why it was so, to which she replied so that she could complete the other chores around the house and serve food to everyone latest by 1:00 pm. I was shocked and thoroughly ashamed of myself. I immediately hugged her and said sorry; she was surprised and asked me what happened to me. I apologized once again and told her that I was feeling embarrassed as I had never imagined earlier how hard she worked to make everything the way it was in the house.
Then I went into my room and took the decision that, be it lockdown or not; I was going to make sure that I keep my room spick and span. I would do my bit of daily chores which included keeping my things in place, keeping my wardrobe well settled and cleaning my room. In this way I will be able to help my mother in some ways. I even took the oath to help in the kitchen whenever I could as well as tending to other smaller chores in the house, such as watering the plants, dusting the couch or even helping in putting out the clothes to dry.
While I had planned to become more useful in the house, I even urged my father to make Sunday a holiday for my mother. I proposed that he and I would try our hands at cooking whatever little we could so that our ‘kitchen queen’ could enjoy a weekly rest day. Gladly my father agreed, and since then we have been practicing it.
It is imperative as we grow up in life to open our minds not just to the world outside our houses but also within our homes. I have learnt that a house becomes a home only with the united efforts of all the family members of the house. I am happy that I have this newfound sense of gratitude and respect in my heart towards my mother, and there is nothing in this world that can be of more value than her. With this new zeal, I feel I am a more productive and happier person these days.
© Arked