Life is Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The new academic school year[or is it school new academic
year;-P] started on April 5, 2009 & I’m walking around with a big grin on my face. I bet you are thinking I’m smiling coz my kids have got good marks for their final exams & have progressed to the next class.

I’m walking around rubbing my hands gleefully coz I’m a free bird now. Aaaaah the freedom…unexplainable really. Before you conclude that I’ve bundled them off to boarding school, let me explain.

All these days, after a hectic 1-2 hrs activity in the kitchen early every morning, I send the kids & better half to school & office[yeah, in that order]. I would just have time to switch on the laptop & login into blogger when the maid would make her appearance. Dunno why but I feel very guilty when the maid is hard at work & I just sit around tapping away on the computer. So while she is there I try to finish my cooking for the day. 2 hrs later when she leaves I’m still in the midst of creating the midday meal[somebody must have coined the word 'slow-coach' after seeing me in action. My sister makes fun of me saying that I even put the sign of the cross in slow-motion]. Finally when I finish, it would already be 12pm & time to pick Naina up from the bus-stop. Just when I finish with Naina's lunch, Nikita comes back, and then you know how it is & those who don’t, feel free to take a wild guess & multiply it by 100.

But now, guess what……….Naina is in 1st std & so both sisters reach home only after 2pm.

Heeeeeeee………..I’m in seventh heaven. You see I’ve got a whole 2 hours to myself. To do anything I want, the way I want to. I’m so pleased with myself & everybody around me. The world looks so promising.
But when I tell this to other mothers they look at me strangely, forget others, the better-half himself looked at me with this very troubled expression as if to say you are celebrating as if you’ve been freed from bondage.

The worst is that I feel exactly like that…..sort of like freed from some cage. I have a million ideas buzzing in my head. I feel vaguely guilty planning trips to the beauty-parlour where I can relax while the girl there gives me a nice head massage instead of the usual jumping up with a start & looking at the time every 15mins. Most of my package deals at the saloon go waste because I always rushing out to the bus stop without completing all the items mentioned in the package.
Most of my supposedly leisurely supermarket trips are also cut short only because of these ill appropriate timings.
I cant even visit a friend to have a heart-to-heart chat or rather a face-to-face talk. Well u know how it is; when we visit, we spend the first 2 hrs talking all the irrelevant things, just when we start opening up to pour out our innermost secrets its time to go….the worst is when we have to wind up the conversation at the door in less than 5 minutes unlike the 2 hours we usually take.

And I can also do my baking in peace now, without the usual.....

Nikita: “What’s that white stuff???”
Mama: “Nikita, its sugar & this is the nth time you’ve asked me this question & no, I am not going to give you some more to taste”
Naina: “Why do you mix it like that????”
Mama: “Coz the recipe says so”
Nikita: “What are you going to do next????”
Mama[exasperated]: “I have no clue as you are sitting on the recipe”
Naina: “Will u give us the bowl to lick after you finish????”
Mama: “U know I always do, now stop talking & let me concentrate”
Nikita: “So when will u finish????”
Mama: “Aaaaaaarrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh”
[2 pairs of feet quickly exit from the kitchen to reappear again after 4 minutes with the same set of questions phrased in a different way].

Last 3 weeks were hectic with the kids at home fulltime after their final exams & believe me when I say I had my hands full. Boys or girls, doesnt matter which gender they are, they are so full of enthusiasm & mischief that we have to be on our toes the whole time.

I love my kids to bits but also long for some free time where I can ….
Just loll on the couch & watch some tv[I normally don’t watch TV or movies when they are around],
Sleep for 2 hrs[highly unlikely but the thought that I can do it if I want to feels good],
Spread the newspaper out on the table & read from the front page to the last page in 1 go[as soon as I open the paper when they are around Naina will want to sit on my lap to read too & Nikita will remember that she's terribly hungry only then]

So on the 1st day of my freedom I baked some yummy Peanut Butter Blossom cookies to perfection[finally].
The next day my friend who was going away to India for forever, came to spend the day with me & we had a wonderful time together.
And yesterday I set off to the parlour right after the maid left & came back a whole hour before the kids came back, looking & feeling rejuvenated.
And today, right after I put up this post I’m going to repot all my plants who’ve been crying for my attention for sometime now.

Haaaaaaaah!!!!!! I’m feeling good!!!!!!!!!


p.s: And yeah, I now spread the newspaper out elaborately onto the table & read it 1st page to last page in 1 go. Anybody want to test my knowledge???? Ask away, I’m all updated.

Which reminds me, tomorrow I’m at a loose end, any ideas anyone???????