CHANGE - FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

Its been a while, I agree. A lot has changed since my last post in this blog which was ages ago. But, keeping in line with my resolution to start this blog again, i am back. As I was saying, a lot has changed in this period - India got its new PM, world has got its new Football champion, APPLE  has been churning out its i-series and Bollywood has made the 100 Cr club a thing of the past - to name a few. But, this blog is about my life and how it has changed.

I have recently taken my vows and completed the holy rounds with my beautiful wife ( Thanks to everyone wishing me as they go over the previous line), and I have settled in my professional life at NCR. Since my college days I have been staying outside my home town, but never alone. It was always a hostel or a PG where things magically arrived at a specific time and at a specific place. It was as if it was a rule and I grew up with it never bothering to go behind the scenes. Recently, I have shifted to a rented house and have been staying alone for the last three months and it seems a bubble has been burst. It seems I am transported to a different world where I have been EXPERIENCING facets of daily life which I had only SEEN before but never bothered to delve deeper into. Let me explain my findings by giving 3 simple examples.

1] THE CHANGE IN THE SLUMBER TIME CONTINUUM

Its an established fact that i am - or rather was - a nocturnal person. I loved to wake up late into the night enjoying my newly downloaded film or the latest episode from my favorite show. It was not a problem as I had arrived at a wonderful mathematical deduction after months of observation, that I would reach office on time even if I got up at 9 AM ( or 9:15AM the day i didn't shave). It was a full proof deduction worked upon with clockwork accuracy and it was integrated in my genes.It meant that even if I had gone to sleep at 2 AM, I would still enjoy 7 hours solid sleep which was more than enough. Then came the 1st of May!!! I had shifted the previous night and keeping up with my habit, I went to sleep at 1 AM. I suddenly heard a bell ring, but I ignored it because I never had the habit of answering a bell early in the morning - a privilege of living in a PG where there is always someone who wakes up before you. Anyway, suddenly the realization sunk in that it was my bell and I had to answer it. I somehow managed to glance at my watch still half asleep and it indicated it was 6:30 A.M. It was the guy who takes your garbage. Didn't the garbage bins have the unique ability of disposing the garbage themselves?? Didn't they??? No they didn't and there went my sleep along with the garbage. And above all else the time continuum had been disturbed. The variable " TIME OF WAKING UP" had been changed to something I had never seen for the best part of the last decade in my life. Oh,some of you must be thinking why didn't I resume after the garbage had been cleaned?? Well , there comes my second example.

2] THAT UNIQUE SPECIES KNOWN AS "MAIDS" 

Now, don't get me wrong. In this day and age where we barely have time outside of our professional life, maids are the people who have been empowered with taking care of the daily chores of our homes. We have all grown up seeing one of them in our homes daily and their magic brooms at work. But its something like fire. If the right person is found its the ultimate bliss, but if you are not so lucky, life can really take an ugly turn. And as you may have guessed, I am not so lucky. Its been 3 months and I have already employed my 3rd maid during this time. So, after I am finished with dumping my garbage,the bell rings for a second time and there she is . The first lesson I have learnt from them is never to be fooled by their innocent smile as they enter the house. You can never estimate their "SCHEME OF THE DAY" but can only hope its not too evil. She enters and tries to strike a conversation involving the latest gossip from the locality, and when she understands that I am not the least bit interested in it, she gives me a look which surely evaporates the last trace of sleep in my eyes. With Sleep out of the way, its time to monitor the maid with the stealthiness of a private detective. You have to believe me when I say it is an art because if done carelessly, it can hurt the ego of the maid an then it becomes another story. Somehow she finishes all her chores and just before leaving she turns around and suggests , " Bhaiya, you SHOULD buy a washing machine and a mixer grinder . It is helpful " . By the time I react to that and manage to answer " Well, would I need you if I had bought that?" , she had vanished but not before giving her signature smile. It was so much fun to see my room tidy and clean after I  returned from college, but now I know the pains our mothers take in making the maids do their work. As I finally have the house to myself and think maybe I could just sneak in a little power nap as its still 8:30 A.M, a voice inside my head (or is it the stomach??) tells me that I have to make the breakfast and no one would provide it in a platter as I was so happily used to.

3] ALL HAIL THE MASTER CHEF!!!

I am a big foodie and that means I love to eat. I spend my time in front of the idiot box watching TLC or the latest episode of MASTER CHEF on Star World. I know the name of certain ingredients that most normal people have never heard of. So, how hard can it be to cook myself breakfast?? I have lots of time still in hand. But wait!! there is one little problem. I have hardly cooked before in my life. I didn't need to.I know the recipes all right, but  they never showed how to install the GAS cylinder and then light it on. How can I saute the sausages if the stove isn't started?? That leaves me with the eggs and bread. Eggs are eliminated due to the same reason and I thank my stars and to the people who gifted me the Pop-up toaster at my marriage. Pop goes the bread and Pop comes the toast. But how long to toast?? I take my guess and well lets say my plan of a perfect English Breakfast got reduced to half burnt toast with butter and REAL fruit juice. As the months have progressed, I have learned things from various platforms including the internet and things have certainly changed. Did you know that chicken curry can be made thicker by mixing eggs in the curry before taking it off the flame?? Do you know whats the difference between marinating chicken in yoghurt as opposed to vinegar?? I do and so, all hail the new master chef . There is lots to learn but still I am happy with what I have achieved as I can now pop out a perfectly toasted bread and the English Breakfast has certainly been taking a good shape .

So, as cited above I rest my case. Life has certainly changed. Its painful initially and bordering on irritation, but I guess this is called maturity. It is not something which comes at a certain age. Age is only a number, but our acceptance of responsibilities  and the willingness to shoulder them makes us mature. I still swear before disposing the garbage. I still have not perfected the art of bringing the best out of my maid and certainly I am not the perfect cook. But, I am willing to get there. That is what satisfies me. Let me end here as Its already late for dinner and as you may have guessed by now, it can have a real Domino effect !!!!!!!!