Happiness Lies Within – The Home Lockdown Memories

Long back I read that Happiness is Home Made……

How often I searched ‘Happiness’ outside my home. Exploring exotic locations, socializing, work, shopping, buying gifts etc etc. I searched for ‘Happiness’ - seldomly did I find it outside. Veritably, there is no path to happiness but happiness being the path itself……I got it right here, my sweet home…

I sometimes feel that Homemade happiness might be like Sudeep’s guitar and my singing…..some high notes, some low ones, sometimes not perfectly in tune, sometimes loud, some nitpicking ensued by adjustments….but with our perfect imperfections, the overall song with guitar is something we enjoy and look forward to. Or possibly Homemade Happiness is like Sudeep’s and my cooking…….sometimes not perfect, sometimes messy, sometimes scrumptious but again, we all find it enjoyable and delectable at the end. May be, it’s the additional flavor we always add to the food in the kitchen……few cups of Love and Friendship, slices of Understanding and hope, a slice of arguments and forgiveness, a sprinkle of faith, a mince of tenderness and a big bowl of laughter. We sauté the amalgamation and then start the braising (cooking low and slow to tenderize all the tough cuts)…….the whole process is fun!!! These imperfect demeanor in the daily routine during these lockdown days would go on to be the most cherished memories of my life….

Life before this lockdown was running like a clock. Actually a machine, wake up at 0515, tea, breakfast, Diya’s school bag and tiffin, Oscar’s routine and meal, shower and prayer, non-stop meetings and work in office, head back home to quickly finish shower and light the lamp, pray , Oscar’s routine and meals, dinner, Diya’s studies, some calls to family members , time pass with Diya and off to bed…….everything was a tick mark. Thanks to Sudeep for doing half of the household chores which made my life easier. Both our lives were ticking off daily activities. Life was running at fast pace not knowing perhaps where to go and when to reach.

Diya had been pestering to take her to Disneyland, Paris since last four years. This year we planned a trip in Apr to Disneyland theme park. In Jan, we did a fantastic tour of all the six Disneyland parks from Paris to California to Tokyo to Hongkong – only on the powerful Internet. Viewing budgetary considerations, we finally homed on to Hong Kong – Macau and reserved all hotels. Sudeep was about to book flight tickets when he came home one day and said some virus outbreak has been reported in China and it might not be safe to go to Hong Kong in Apr as planned. Nevertheless, we decided to wait till end Feb and still had hopes of an exciting holiday. By Feb it became clearer that flying to Hong Kong would be absolutely unsafe so we decided to go to Amritsar (Golden Temple) and Dharamshala (where Diya had met with the life threatening accident nine years back. We wanted to offer gratitude to the land of Dharamshala). We, again, proceeded with all the bookings and decided to compensate our holiday abroad by booking luxury hotels. I was particularly super excited reminiscing my childhood days in Jalandhar (where we had planned to visit on the way from Amritsar to Dharamshala) with my very close family friends, savoring the Kulcha Chole, butter coated Parathe and ofcourse my heart was filled with emotions thinking about visiting the very same place where I faced some toughest moments of my life till date. Finally, when everything got cancelled, we all got a little upset. We thought we would miss some great time this year. But I was definitely wrong.

Lockdown

Sudeep & I took a day off on my b’day. Till that time we had no inkling that a lockdown might be implemented soon. Even section 144 was not announced. However, social distancing was being followed. Sudeep threw a surprise B’Day party (only our family and two of our very close friends) at a private beach. The beach was serene with no soul there except us. Under the moonlight and the raging sea waves, we lit a campfire and the sand glittered like gold. I had the best BDay celebration ever with nature at it’s best…..

When our honorable PM announced about the Lakshman Rekha, for a second it crossed my mind as to how will I spend time completely at home. I have been working since I passed out of my engineering college and I always dreaded sitting at home. Though both of us are not those extremely socializing types but we do go out at least once a week/ fortnight to meet friends, shopping, dinner etc. I even wondered what Sudeep would do without his obsessive cycling, running and gym. My toughest conundrum was to engage Diya. However, it was a sad situation all around the world. Deaths , sickness and the great news channels to make it worse. We diligently did what we were told.

The first day began with Sudeep & Diya watching Ramayana movie. Against my skepticism, Diya seemed to enjoy it. They moved on to watch Mahabharat, Ravana, Hanuman, Krishna and a mythological series on Netflix - Dharamkshetra. My mother is an expert in mythological stories and she used to watch the series with Diya, explaining everything in detail. Diya started relating incidents of Mahabharat and its characters in day to day incidents. The tedious part was Sudeep narrated everything to me after every episode in spite of me telling him that it was getting too philosophical. But I thoroughly enjoyed these small arguments with Sudeep especially when he deliberately pestered me.

Sudeep, Diya, my mother and I started playing Badminton every evening in our garden. We are blessed to be staying on ground floor with a nice cozy garden. That was the only work out I did and Sudeep Diya continued with their indoor exercises after badminton making fun of me that I would soon put on inordinate weight. We watched family movies together and Diya enjoyed watching Andaaz Apna Apna, Dhamaal, Hera Pheri…….. Seeing her laughing boisterously at stupid jokes took us back to our childhood days when everything seemed light and not so serious. Due to early morning spree every single day before lockdown, it had been months since we three had enjoyed the fun of a movie night. So, we watched these movies, laughed over it and cuddled into each other to sleep tight. Often Sudeep and I continued watching some web series even after Diya slept off with my parents. Diya and Sudeep started sketching some abstract images and it was a revelation that Sudeep could sketch decently. He seemed to enjoy his new hobby along with Diya. Every day we tried to make Diya study a little which seemed the most horrendous task of the day.

I used to work from home during the day. Evenings were relatively free so we started investing our energy in music. Sudeep kept experimenting with his naïve guitar skills and I sang just for fun. We looked forward to decide on a song and record it which kept us busy and we enjoyed it so much. Oscar and Diya were always part of the whole practice and recordings. This motivated Diya too to try something on her piano. After Sudeep’s indoor workouts and before our music session, we all (including my parents and Oscar) sat down for evening prayers and it was fun to recite those Orriya chants which were mandatory part of my childhood and somehow faded in the rush of life.

Cooking new dishes was fun. Sudeep tried his skills with various dishes and Diya was her assistant in the kitchen, everytime. We tried making Rasagullas and it was a such a flop show. We laughed over our failures in the kitchen and in music. We played Ludo, Snake and Ladder, Chess, Carom etc, but the best was playing Dumb Charades. Watching my parents performing was the cutest thing I had witnessed in years. Once while playing Antakshari my father finally sang a song and we realized he was not that bad as far as moving your vocal cords is concerned. Generally, with a very serious demeanor and always engrossed in his books and news channels, I guess he too had a good time doing what he perhaps had never done in his yesteryear’s years serving in the Army.

To break the monotony, Sudeep & I arranged a dinner for Diya and my parents. We decorated the dining table, placed new cutlery and cooked variety of dishes. We dressed up as if going to a restaurant. It was fun but Oscar was the happiest because he got his miniscule share from every dish we had cooked (which he does every time). At the same time I realized that life without a maid was so difficult. Every morning brooming and cleaning the house, washing tons of utensils, dusting seemed extremely tiring in the beginning but later went on to become one of the biggest task in a day which kept us fit and busy. Finally one of my maid’s started coming after a month and I started taking care of her probably more than her husband would ever do…😊

I don’t remember when I tried dancing last. May be when I was a child. After years, I danced with Diya. She pestered me so much to dance together. We pulled in Sudeep too much against his reluctance. His dance reminded me of Jan 2008 when we both (newly married couple) were asked to dance in a party arranged by my Father in Dinjan, Assam. My Father’s colleague, who was a Lt Gen, asked us to dance and after seeing Sudeep’s dancing skills he quickly asked the DJ to take over and invite rest of the guests on the floor.

During the lockdown, we celebrated Sudeep’s and Diya’s B’day. It had always been so easy and comfortable to buy the best card from the best shop. But making a card for both of them was one of the best activities, I did in this lockdown. The last hand made card (heart shaped with glitters and ribbons) I made was for Sudeep in 2005. He still has that. All those memories flashed when we made these cards at home. Booking a decorator for Diya’s BDay was easy but decorating the house all by ourselves was so much fun. Ordering a cake , buying sweets and snacks were a regular custom. But baking a cake and making Kalakand and Gulab Jamun’s for the BDay’s was something I cherished heartily. It actually took us back to our childhood, when everything was homemade, starting from the cake to the snacks and even my birthday frock used to be stitched by Maa.

We did our bit to support the under privileged ones during the lockdown with whatever we could. It was so disheartening to read the distressing news every single day. We could not share their pain but I believe that positivity is what everyone needed. Life may be short or may be long, who knows, except the supreme power. I believe that these moments, for sure, would never come back. Diya will grow up and with this fast-changing lifestyle, life might be very different. So, we lived life every moment with each other during these days consciously. We were in constant touch with our relatives and friends. We all prayed and chanted every single day for positivity and strength.

Life before lockdown was way too packed and had no space for these activities. All this tick mark work (in office and at home) would pile up and burry the desires and passion to pursue these trivial things which eventually became imperceptible in the so-called race of life. Now the race has begun again at a tortoise pace. But things will be different in this lap. These memories for sure will be cherished forever and the lessons I learnt during these times - the happiness in doing trifle jobs, the fun in staying inside home with your loved ones and the ones who will always stand by you, no matter what – will change the way I live and look at life.