“I’m very happy today, Amma. I had lots of fun”, screamed my 6-year old daughter D late Saturday evening, while we had the play area all to ourselves and were happily kicking the basketball.
I felt cheerful too on a Saturday when husband had been to a whole-day offsite early morning. On any other weekend, I would have felt grumpy but it wasn’t the case today.
I woke up at my usual time and made myself a cup of strong coffee. Browsed for an hour and got my "me-time". When my daughter woke up with a big smile, we decided to go out to a mall later during the day. She then asked me to read a story book, while she happily lied down on my lap and listened to the story intently. We then sat for sometime in the balcony, eating an apple and just staring at a clear, blue sky. It was dance time later, and to my surprise, she played my favourite songs - “azhagiye” and “sinamika”, instead of her usual SRK’s songs - did I tell you she is a HUGE fan of SRK? :-) I then realised that it’s been quite some time since I listened to these two songs.
We both danced for a while and were super hungry. The dosa batter and the freshly made chutney podis came to the rescue. 15 minutes later, breakfast was done. My house-help had taken leave and she had informed me that another maid would come to do the dishes. But there was no sign of the substitute maid till noon and the sink was (and still is) piled up with dishes to be cleaned. I decided not to get affected by the overflowing sink and we stepped out to the mall as planned.
D wanted an ice-cream and I let her eat (yes, me the health crazy mom!) a small cup of her favourite flavour. Her joyful smile was infectious. She then played around, jumped on the trampoline, demanded a slice of cake, a visit to Subway - both politely declined ;-) We both decided to eat lunch outside - while I ordered kadhi chawal for her, I happily treated myself to a bhelpuri, followed by a matka rabdi for her and a big gulab jamun for myself ;-)
It’s been so long since we both went out and had fun by ourselves. We came back home after a couple of hours. I let her watch TV, while I did time-pass on Instagram. A hot cup of chai followed, and then we stepped out to our apartment play area, along with a basketball for company. We played catch-catch, bouncing, kicking the ball and ofcourse, the real basketball game :-) It was such a thrill to throw the ball into the hoop. Running race followed, and D was giving me clear instructions on how to run, where to take a turn etc. After all the running and jumping, my heart was pumping fast. We then took a stroll around, admiring flowers and leaves, guessing which things would float and sink in the swimming pool. D is fascinated to learn about the concept of float/sink - she tried throwing leaves and flowers into the swimming pool and was curiously watching whether they would sink or float.
The evening routine of making dinner followed and I made a yummy vegan pumpkin soup, with D helping me chop the vegetables. It was a memorable "mother-daughter" Saturday.
As I pondered at the end of the day, I realised that there were three things that were different today.
1. I didn’t let events or circumstances that were beyond my control affect me - I could have easily felt grumpy with my husband gone for an offsite on a Saturday or the no-show of the maid. But I consciously decided not to get affected.
2. I went with the flow of the day and didn’t try to accomplish any to-dos. That’s the whole point of the weekend, isn’t it? Living in the present, taking in the moments and giving your 100% attention to loved ones, which is so rare these days.
3. I hardly used my smart phone throughout the day - except for taking a few pictures when we stepped out, the phone was resting in my handbag. I didn’t bother to take it to play area either, which helped me to be mindful of my daughter’s play time. Children can easily spot whether you are giving them 100% attention or not. D had in fact told me a couple of times in the past, “put down your phone, Amma” when she wanted me to play with her and I was busy with my phone.
Remember the “book of trivets” I wrote about in my review of Ruskin Bond’s Simple Living? Well, this Saturday had to be recorded in my book of trivets.