Home Improvement as Therapy

What do you do when you are down and out - on one of those bad days? Go out and have a drink or lounge on the couch to watch your favorite movie for a zillionth time? Go for a drive or call one of your best pals and cry your heart out? Strangely, in the past I did none of these on my not-in-the-mood days. I just went into a shell and kept to myself - doing best what I did which was doing nothing. Of late, I’ve found the secret that burns my negative energy and thoughts in a flash actually making me feel good at the end of it.

The demands of being a stay-at-home mother for two years now, not having a real job that requires me to step out of home and have a life, the lack of a social circle, and a husband who will be away for an year does take its toll at times. After moving to Bangalore to our own apartment, I’ve found peace in the most unusual thing - home improvement/maintenance. Yes, you heard it right! Before you read between the lines, I do have a maid who does most of the cleaning but I find immense pleasure in dusting the windows, scrubbing the floors, cleaning the glass surfaces, shining the wooden artifacts, reusing old curtain to make new cushion covers, and developing an indoor flower garden. I know this is called domesticity; but I’ve never been the true house-wife - not the born kind. I still cook dishes from recipe books. If you are imagining our home to be picture-perfect that you’d be scared to sit on the couch or think twice before stepping your feet on the floor, it’s far from it. The house was rented for three years, so the floor’s no longer the reflecting surface it once used to be; the glaze of the tiles in the bathrooms is lost but we’ll soon get there.

This is a great therapy as it is physical and burns a lot of calories. It is also a job that requires no thinking - very mindless and monotonous in many ways which appeals me at times for a change! Here, I leave you with images of the first dhania (read: coriander) sprout that showed up. LG’s formula tin has been reused to be filled up with mud and dhania seeds, old curtain cut into cushion covers, and new plants waiting to be re-potted :

Plants

Curtains made into cushions

Repot plants

Noiseless Diwali

With half of the country celebrating Diwali on Monday and the Northern part ringing in the festival of lights on Tuesday, one knew all was well with the world. Because, the confusion prevailed over when was Deepavali actually? “When in Rome, do as Romans do”, is one principle I follow when it comes to festivals; if we are living North and our Diwali falls a day before, then we celebrate it both the days. It’s bursting crackers and eating sweets after all - so  how does it affect anyone anyway other than adding a few hundred calories :)

This Diwali was different though. First, with V being away it wasn’t fun hauling myself alone to do clothes shopping, preparing sweets at home and letting LG cling on to me every time something burst or lit up the sky - so much as a sparkler. This was perhaps the first time as far back as my memory goes, that I have spent the least on fireworks - precisely Rs.97.5 which included two sparkler boxes, one snake (yea, that polluting one!) tablet, a plastic gun and three rolls of cape. Except a roll of cape, the rest remains unopened. So much for Diwali!

I had worked out a master-plan to prepare LG for what was coming, a day or two before. Bangalore, unfortunately is not like the smaller towns of India where one finds it hard to have a uninterrupted 2-minute conversation a week before Diwali. With schools closed, kids ring in the celebration way ahead of time. As a kid, I remember meticulously drying the 100-walas in the Sun just to ensure they stayed dry on D-day. And, then there was the elaborate task of removing the single pieces from the 500-wala so that we had enough stock to keep us going for a week. Now, that was fun! Coming back to my plan for LG, I got a gun and a cape and surprised him with two or three shots as he ran for cover. A few minutes later when I went to fix his lunch, he hid it in the tool cabinet, locked it and waved his hand saying “kaanum” (read:lost) - imitating my actions for stuff I would want out of his reach. His way of expressing he wasn’t too happy with it. I tried a few more times before giving up on Diwali. The Diwali evening was again a quiet one. We were mere spectators for sometime as the rest of the people in the apartment tried their hands namesake on a few 100-walas. And Diwali was over.

The weirdest thing in the whole episode was all the kids in the neighborhood were seated quietly out of fear by one side with hands clutched to their ears while the parents took turns in finishing the stock. I am amazed at how times have changed. It’s more about wearing new clothes, having some days off from school and nothing about crackers. Good for the environment-conscious and against-child-labor kids.

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