Monday 17 January 2011

A day in a wife's life!

After a couple of minutes of groggily tossing in bed, she decides it was time to drive away those last few sleep bugs out of her head and get started with a brand new day!

She turns over and looks beside her and finds that her husband had already woken up and was having a shower! Her eye brows shoot up… ‘Oops… am late!!’ she thought to herself as she quickly shoves away the comforter and runs her hand thru her hair and gathers them into a high pony tail and jumps out of bed. At the same pace, she swiftly wraps herself in a morning robe, brushes her teeth, splashes cool water onto her face and gently wipes dry. After a movie which ran past midnight, the previous night, waking up early wasn't easy! Yes, now she is all set to face another beautiful day!

She walks into the kitchen, where the neatly arranged see-through boxes of provisions and eats welcome her. Browsing through them, she plans on the breakfast menu. ‘Hmmm… should I go for Samiya Upma today as well?’ she wonders holding a jar of vermicelli in her hand. By now, she had learnt her husband’s favorites and this topped the list. Also, considering the time availability and the convenience factor, breakfast usually had limited variation. So without further thought into it, she settles for Samiya Upma. 

In a while, he comes out of the shower and goes to the kitchen to check on his wifey… who, in the meanwhile is done with the upma, which she serves into 2 bowls, and tops it with some crunchy savory snack. The two of them settle down in front of the TV and enjoy their breakfast together.

Another half hour and a cup of hot filter coffee later, it is time for him to get to work. After a good-bye hug, a smile and the usual reminder to come home soon... she sees him off, shuts the door and then looking around the house, wonders… ‘Now… what!?’

Well, it was only 10:30 and she had an hour before she went about preparing lunch. When one is not bound by any set routines to follow every day, one gets to chalk out his own personalized itinerary each day. Which, at times is great… but on the other hand, it could get difficult to keep self occupied the entire day, without letting boredom strike in. 

She does the dishes in about ten minutes and then she walks up to her laptop and decides that it was chat-up time with her best friend, a fellow young home-maker residing in the other end of the country. The two connected on a daily basis between their household chores to exchange notes on house-wifely anecdotes, recipes, menu ideas, new movies, old friends, marriage bliss and basically about everything under the roof! They were each other’s boredom busters as well.

As she chats with her friend, she suddenly jumps out of the chair and walks to the laundry bag… She remembers she has to put some clothes for washing. She gathers the soiled linen and dumps them into the washing machine. Keys in the specifications, ensures the process starts and then resumes her chatting…

“Oh…and guess what… he absolutely loved the Thai Green Curry that I tried out yesterday… :) I liked it too!! Hehe…” she beams as she types to her friend. “What’s the menu there…? Today I plan to make Rava idlis with sambar and chutney… he likes the way I make sambar :)… but hey, I need the recipe for chutney… u r the expert there… .” On and on goes the chat and at the end of 10 mins, she is enlightened with the recipe to make coconut chutney with a hint of coriander flavor. She is happy! After a couple minutes more of girlie chitter-chatter, she bids temporary goodbye to her friend and gives herself a quick bath.

It is around 12. A meticulous person as she is, ahead of cooking, gathers all the ingredients she would need for the new trial recipe that had been planned for the day and carefully strategizes the sequence of operation. She goes that extra measure and takes utmost care to ensure that lunch and dinner always had variety…. As you see, she believes that ‘variety is the spice of life’! With abundance of time on her hand and with immense passion for cooking up something new, she entertains herself by trying out new recipes every so often, for her sweetheart. 

As she gives the final touch to the batter for rava Idlies, she makes her routine call to her mom, back home. Amidst the usual mommy-daughter chatter, she arranges the batter onto the idly plates with expertise and places them in the cooker that is kept on one stove, while the alluring aroma arising from the wok of steaming sambar kept on the other stove, lingers in the entire house. It takes a few whizzes of the mixer, for her to get the chutney in shape!


Three quarter of an hour later… the delectable meal is ready and is neatly arranged on the table, complete with fine garnishing to treat the eyes. She smiles with satisfaction and gets herself to clear the extra vessels that were used in the process of cooking.

Pleased with things, she permits herself to take a little break… just then… “Beep-Beep-Beep” the washing machine cries for attention! The clothes are washed and are ready to be dried… there goes her break! She collects the clothes from the washer and orderly lays them for drying in the balcony.

It’s nearly half past 1 now, and he is expected anytime. Well, she has a few minutes to kill… which she ends up spending reconnecting with her friend… who too is in the ‘lunch-ready-and-waiting-for-honey’ status! The two update each other on the lunch preparations and “wow!” at each other’s recipes. In just a few minutes, the front door is heard being unlocked and he is home!

“Hey, he is home… will catch u after lunch!” she tells her friend and hurries to greet him with a warm welcome smile. He smiles back and plants a kiss on her forehead… he looks forward for this lunch break, to be home with her for a while, leaving behind work tension back in office. The unavoidable mesmerizing aroma tingles his nostrils and he heads straight to the table to check out what feast awaits him. “Yummmmy!” he exclaims as he quickly washes up and settles down to devour the goodies. No words can fully express that feeling of joy and contentment she feels as she adoringly gazes at him relish the dishes, which were so lovingly prepared.

After the lip smacking lunch, she clears the table real fast to settle down next to him to watch TV for a while. In an hour he heads back and she is again back to the question… “Hmmm… now… what?!”

A nap was an option, but today she wasn’t feeling sleepy… she had plans to do some grocery shopping. She had a list made out which she tears out from the notebook, picks up her handbag and she rides her way to the super market. She spends an hour and a half there fetching every item she has mentioned in her list, making sure she got the best deal available. On her way back home, fresh carrots in a roadside veggie stall catch her attention… she halts! “Carrots!!!” she mentally exclaims. He loved Carrot Halwa and she had just discussed the recipe with her friend the previous day… yes, she would try her hand at the delicacy today!

Pleased with her shopping, she reaches home and relaxes a bit and gets on call with her dad for a fun chat. In a while, unpacks her shopping bags and puts away all the items in order.

Subsequently she recollects the clothes drying in the balcony, which by now would be ready to be folded, sorted and kept away in cupboards. Having done that, she then logs in to chat-up with her friend once again! They gossip on for about an hour, before our wifey decides to start her big project of making ‘Carrot Halwa’ for her sweetheart.

Putting her heart and soul into it, she works step by step on the recipe. A quick call is made to her mommy for some expert advice at a point in the process, where our young chef is confused about certain proportions… and the advice that follows is carefully applied. Delighted the way the sweet dish is taking shape, she hums along with her favorite music that is playing out loud! In an hour the yummy halwa is ready and is decorated with thin slices of almonds.

She walks to the terrace for a break and witnesses the sunset. She misses him. Misses him badly. “Hmmmm…” she sighs as she admires the beautiful setting alone and spends a few minutes lost in the world of admiration. She settles down on her comp for about half hour of blogging, her favorite hobby.

It was 7 and she heads back to the kitchen to make dinner. Gobi Parathas this time! The menu was decided way back in the super market and the raw materials were all gathered for the process to begin. In an hour’s time, she has completed all the tasks at hand and is ready for her hunny. She has laid out the table for two, with placemats, plates and serving bowls and… the tasty goodies for the night. And she waits for him. An hour goes by and then the lovely sound of the door unlocking is heard. This is like music to her ears and she immediately gets up to greet him. “I missed you today!” she confesses to him as she drowns in his hug. He missed her too and was so glad to be home-sweet-home at the end of yet another hectic day at work, with his loving wife!

She warms the parathas and they sit down for meal. “What did you do today?” he enquires and to that she happily jabbers on and fills him in about what her mommy said, the wise cracks her dad made, the secret joke she shared with her friend, how the super market billing personnel missed out accounting for a deal and tried to over-charge her, how lovely the sunset was…… he patiently listens and participates in the animated conversations at intervals.

After dinner she surprises him with the Carrot Halwa which makes him grin from ear to ear! Oh, she wouldn’t trade such moments for anything else in the world. She loved these moments with him. In fact, she loved every moment with him.

It has been almost 4 months now, since she quit her IT job with the plan of giving herself a break and then eventually getting into a career lesser hectic, a decision she felt best in order to enjoy and do justice to the lovely new role she was getting into… that of a wife! Nearly 3 months back, she tied the knot and ever since has been making the most of every single moment of being a full time home maker, by being a doting wife to her charming husband. He means the world to her, and she finds no bigger joy than keeping him happy and pleased. Today as she enjoys the joys of wedded life, by catering to every little need of her husband and bringing that special smile to his face after he devours the scrumptious meals that she so devotedly prepares, she feels it’s the best decision she has ever made!

They indulge themselves with the delicious carrot halwa… as they catch up on some amusing shows on television together. At the end of the day, they retire to bed. As she lay there beside the man of her dreams… she thanks god for making her life so beautiful. She snuggles closer to him and he cuddles her and whispers "I love you!"“Love you too” she says… who was glad she had him, and felt lucky to be his wife!

9 comments:

  1. loved this, Nandita! Sounds like one of the days from my life! :)

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  2. Such a lovely post Nandita,you truly have a way with words,kept me occupied all the way through.Reminds me of my early days of marriage only thing,cooking was alien to me then:).The grin on the husband's face when they see their fave dish prepared as a surprise--I identify so much with it:)

    Btw,I am a Konkani too:)

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  3. Purnima - Thanku!! :)

    Divya - Thanx :) Nice to meet yet another Konkani blogger :)

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  4. its so nice that i cant express my feeling in words over here :)

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  5. Thanku so much Dhanya, for that lovely comment! :)

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  6. hey nicely penned lovely post :)

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  7. Wah....a day full of activity...

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  8. :-) these days and those days nothing has changed just the cooking part has improved a lot :D can really relate well to this post dear

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