Boring Is Good

Tring tring!

6.00 am – Wake up.

Drink water, brush teeth etc etc

6.30 am – Wake up the kids.

Cuddle… sing sweet morning rhymes… scream… pull them from blanket etc etc

7.00 am – Get the kids ready.

Brush.. Bath… Dress up… School Bag… lunch box… etc etc

7.30 am – Make breakfast.

Make the kids eat…. Listen to them whining… say nicely… scold… whatever works… etc etc

8.00 am – Drop kids to the school.

8.30 am – Morning exercise, stuff breakfast, manage online catering business etc etc

10.00 am – Bath, cooking, chores, work etc etc.

1.00 pm – Lunch, some more chores… work etc etc

3.30 pm – Kids back home, snacks, tea.

5.00 pm – Make kids study, extracurricular classes… pick and drop etc etc

7.00 pm – Make dinner, some more chores etc etc

9.00 pm – Bedtime for kids… this and that etc etc

10.00 pm – Crash on bed… Phew!

Naina scribbled her to-do-list and stuck the pale pink paper on the fridge. She had a habit of writing one daily. She secured the paper by a yellow smiling sunflower faced magnet gifted by her daughter. She gazed at it for a second and wondered. Here, it was. Her life, summarized on a piece of paper and it screamed out loud.

BORING!

Naina sighed. Her to-do-list had lost its meaning because the list was pretty much the same day after day with an occasional school event, kid’s activity classes and doctor’s appointments thrown around to break the dullness. It displayed her monotonous life which didn’t need any reminder. It won’t make any difference if she just crumpled it and threw it away in the bin. It was so similar that she hardly looked at it throughout the day. The cute heart print background of the list was more interesting than the items written on it by her. 

It was 3.30 pm. She sighed and took out the milk bottle from the fridge and poured it in a saucepan to boil. Kids wanted to drink hot cocoa today since the weather had become a little chilly. She made some black coffee for herself and Neeraj. She needed the caffeine after a long afternoon of planning and preparations for a new order in her catering business. 

She was passionate about cooking. Hence, she had begun an online catering business. She had started off with small orders for birthday parties and gatherings but soon her business grew and today she had secured a big order of samosas for a party. She was happy and anxious at the same time. Her mind was spinning in planning to accommodate that work in her schedule. Sameer’s science project’s due date was coming up and she was preparing Meera for her admission to school. Her to-do list was about to change from dull to ‘dull and hectic’ from tomorrow.

“Mumma, is the cocoa ready! We are hungry!” The kids screamed. Kids were playing their favorite game ‘catch the balloon’ with their dad. Neeraj, who was just back from office, had joined them.

“Yes babies… here is your cocoa” the kids leaped at their mugs and spilled some of the cocoa.

“Be careful!” Neeraj cautioned them while Naina cleaned up the table and the floor.

The coffee had gone cold by the time she completed all the cleaning. She heated it in the microwave and sat on the couch near the window.

She watched as Neeraj and the kids played with the balloon with one hand and giggled non stop. They asked her to join but she refused. All she needed at the moment was some alone time before “what should I cook for dinner today syndrome” invades her mind.

“It’s too much now! My life has become a never ending loop of cooking, cleaning, feeding, chores, work on repeat like a merry go round. But the fun is missing. I never imagined my life would become this boring. I want some adventure but not the vacations or road trips kind. A trip with small kids is another sad challenging story. This day to day boring routine is in desperate need of a makeover.”

On an impulse she closed her eyes and joined her hands and muttered to herself.

“Oh God, I wish my life to change. I’m so bored and tired. I just want to sit on this  couch, read books, sip coffee and look out of the window to see the green grass growing, birds chirping on the trees and smell the rains with no interruptions!”

Ting!

“What’s that sound?” Naina opened her eyes and looked around.

“We didn’t make any noise Mumma… we are playing quietly” Meera put her index finger to her lips. 

“Your ears are ringing,” Neeraj jokes.

“No, I definitely heard something…I will check the door.”

Naina got up in a hurry. In the next one minute so many things happened that it was difficult to comprehend.

As she got up from the couch, the balloon flew from Sameer’s hands and dashed on her face. For a moment, her view was blocked and in that instant, her foot landed on a toy car with wheels. She tripped and fell.

Naina felt her world go blank. Her mind was unable to process anything around her. Lying on the carpet, she could outline some faces hovering above her and asking her endless questions, all at a time. It sounded like a cacophony of sorts. Everything seemed to be spinning in front of her eyes so she closed it shut.

“Naina are you ok?”

“Mumma mumma!”

When she opened her eyes after a time which felt like eternity, she saw her husband’s worried face floating over her eyes. Sameer was calling her non stop and Meera was quiet but she knew that expression on her face so well. She would burst into tears if she didn’t get a response. With a lot of effort, Naina nodded her head to convey that she was OK.

Neeraj held her shoulders and tried to pick her up. 

Ouch! She shrieked.

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It was five days today. Naina had broken her right shoulder. It was bad. The pain was so terrible that she couldn’t move her neck or hand. The doctor had prescribed medicines and complete rest was an absolute necessity for fast healing. Lying down on the bed was painful so the couch had become her home.

She had tried to read a book, saw endless videos on her mobile and watched an entire series on TV too. But it tired her out. The medications had hidden the pain but all these activities had made her neck stiffer. So, she just lay on the couch and looked out of the window. She watched the rain and soaked in the rhythmic sound of the rain drops on the roof. When the rain was over, she watched the green grass glinting in the sunlight. The lemon tree in her front yard was invaded by small birds. A steaming cup of coffee made by Neeraj rested on the table in front of her. Was her wish granted? It was. But she had to pay a price for it. A broken shoulder was just one of them.

The chirping of the birds was interrupted by the occasional clunking sound of pots and pans being tuned over and the kitchen cupboards being open and shut repeatedly. It indicated only one thing. Neeraj was cooking and was in search of everything and not finding anything and he had decided that he won’t bug her with his unending questions of the whereabouts of the whatnots.

The mere imagination of the mess that he was making in the kitchen gave her goosebumps.

But she knew. He was not to be blamed entirely. She had desired a dream house which was not an easy task to accomplish for them. Neeraj had to change companies and accept more challenging roles to earn the money which was required. Money poured in but he got busier with long hours of work. Earlier, he used to cook at times on weekends for his family but as his work pressure increased, he was hardly present at home. The kitchen became a forgotten territory for him. So, Naina had taken up the food department of the house completely. For the past few days Naina couldn’t move her hand, so he was trying to manage it.

Naina sipped the hot coffee and it burnt her tongue. But it was still better than the gnawing feeling that was troubling her from inside, her food business. It had gone completely out of hold. She had to refuse the big order and it went to someone else. She was also not sure when she could come back to work. So, her business was at a total loss. The money and the self fulfillment both were gone.

And the kids… both of them had gone wild. They behaved like monkeys who had escaped from the cage when it was accidentally left open. The routine in their life which Naina was so strict about had gone for a toss. Now she had to scream at them to make them study and for the extra curricular activities because that was the only thing that she could do. This had made them even crazier. Sameer’s science project was not progressing well and Meera was far behind in her preparations for the school admission.

Their eating tantrums were at forever high. They refused to eat most of the things that Neeraj cooked and so he ordered from outside. Just within a few days, they had eaten all the junk food possible which they hadn’t eaten in a year. It had upset their stomach and they too were on medicines.

Neeraj’s condition was the worst. He looked tired and stressed out with managing his work, kids, house and her.

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Witnessing her happy and healthy family crumple in front of her eyes, a realization hit hard upon Naina. People dream. They work towards it and pray hard to realise it. Then one day, the dreams come true! They celebrate it for a while but then cease to value it. New dreams and aspirations make their way into their lives and they again fall in the same loop.

Once upon a time, Naina had dreamt of a beautiful family. A loving husband and two kids, a boy and a girl. A decent house where they would stay together and her days would be spent taking care of her family and having fun with them. It was a pretty simple dream yet all are not blessed with it. But she was. 

After all these years, this dream in reality seemed like a burden. The wishes were granted but a lot of hard work, determination and love was essential to sustain it which she had lacked. Recently, she felt burdened by all the responsibilities piled upon her. She felt burnt out.

Out of frustration, she wished something from God again. God granted that too but this time with a twist. The twist of a shoulder!

Naina understood that it was okay to feel exhausted but perseverance was the need of the hour. She had wanted this BORING life all along and she knew that if given a second chance, she would want it again. She is nurturing her family exactly the way she had desired but sustaining needs hard work and nobody was going to do that for her! Naina decided that she was not going to shy away from it. She was going to embrace it all with open hands.

Naina’s loud sobs surpassed the sounds of pots from the kitchen and the blaring TV from the living room. Neeraj and the kids came running to see what happened to Naina all of a sudden. They were concerned if she was in pain since she was crying non stop. Naina held Neeraj’s hand and then pulled the kids close to her heart. They asked her if she was alright and she had just one response for all the questions.

“I LOVE MY BORING LIFE.”

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash