The Lady of the House: A Minister with multiple portfolios

Day 16^th of the lockdown: It’s 8 am and the husband has just woken waiting for his morning cup of tea. As it’s getting late he calls the lady of the house “Sunti ho meri chai kahan hai. Arre zara jaldi karo aaj Thursday hai aur 10 baje meri zoom pe team aur boss ke saath joint meeting hai” (Darling are you listening? Where is my morning cup of tea? Today is Thursday and I have a joint meeting on Zoom with my team and boss).

A sound reverberates from the kitchen: What is the big deal? You have a meeting on Zoom every morning. I just fail to understand how much brainstorming you people do every day? If you want to be successful tell your team that they have to become multitasker. That’s the only solution once everybody resumes work.

The House gets into action

It’s 9 am and the daughter has just logged onto her laptop Her classes are being conducted online these days. She has mastered most of the subjects of class 11^th except Maths. Today she has a special class of Maths to clear all her doubts. The laptop occupies the left corner of the table and the notebook occupies the right.

Suddenly the lady of the house appears in the bedroom. The daughter looks at her and puts a finger on lips asking her to keep quiet. The mom knows her role. She tiptoes to the study table and makes space for a plate. As she moves the notebook on the side the daughter is about to lose control but keeps quiet. Mom quietly places a plate of cheese sandwiches along with a glass of milk on her table. While leaving the room she just scrubs her finger on the surface of the study table to check the dust on the table.

Mom’s day starts early in the morning. Maids are absent during the lockdown. She does the cooking, sweeping, mopping, washing clothes and dusting of the house. In between she has to attend to husbands call for a cup of tea or kid’s demand for an in-between-studies snack. In these days of lockdown, it is the lady of the house who has emerged as the real multitasker. It’s for the first time that the husband has realised his wife heads not only the home but several departments of the house. Let’s see how the lady of the house has emerged a winner:

The Lady of the house has proved to be an efficient Home Minister

Seeing that wife is managing the house so well during the lockdown without any help coming her way, he starts appreciating the multitasking role she is playing. The first and foremost role of a home minister is to play the role of a peacekeeper. The lockdown has created a situation where husband and wife are locked in a house for 21 days along with kids.

Contrary to the popular belief that 3 weeks will create a hell of a situation at home, the scene is quite peaceful.  The wife ensures that the husband doesn’t get disturbed while he is working on the laptop. He gets his supply of tea at regular intervals.  Breakfast is served at 9 am and lunch sharp at 1.30 pm. The room is swept and mopped before 9 am. The workstation gets dusted every day.

Seeing that spouse is overworked the husband also tries to contribute to household chores. Putting clothes in the washing machine and spreading them on the clothesline is one of the tasks. Giving a helping hand to spouse washing dishes after lunch and dinner is another one.

It seems that love is in the air after a long time. Understanding and helping each other has taken over arguments and blaming one another.

The Finance Minister

Just like the Centre provides funds to states for the running of the state machinery similarly, dad provides funds to mom to run a household every month. In this hour of crisis dad finally understands how well managed are the finances of the house.

The domestic help, the press wala, and the newspaper hawker are being compensated for the lockdown period. Not even once the lady of the house has mentioned that she will deduct the salary for the crisis period. It’s a bit surprising as she is the same lady who deals firmly with the domestic helps on regular days and takes them to task if they ditch work without informing.  The lady of the house has a golden heart.

This is one Finance minister who has doled out the direct transfer benefit to the neediest even without thinking of the fiscal deficit. She has not asked the Centre for any additional sum. Dad felt that maybe mom will ask for additional funds this month. It’s a pleasant surprise she hasn’t.

The Lady of the house is an excellent Trade and Commerce minister

The lockdown has created scarcity all over the country due to a breakdown in the logistic chain. The local kirana store is stocking only the essentials like milk, bread, butter, and eggs. The e-commerce portal’s last-mile delivery network has collapsed. The nearest market is out of bounds and one has to just manage with whatever is available at the shop next door.

Despite the shortages, the lady of the house has used her extraordinary skills to manage the house well. There is no shortage of staple items like rice, wheat, dal (pulses), maida (white flour) or suji (semolina).  She uses a combination of the nearby grocery shop as well as the limited supplies being delivered by the skeletal staff of e-commerce portals like Milk Basket or Grofers. And remember that she is managing the supplies in fierce competition with other ladies, all of whom are trying to stock their house well.

It’s because of her efforts that kids can have their regular breakfast of bread and omelet in the morning and Maggi in the evening. The spouse can have his favourite sabzi (vegetable) Bhindi (lady finger) and Aloo gobhi with every meal.  Not even once has she asked the spouse to help her with the supplies. Though at times she gets worried about the shortages and discusses with him but in a couple of hours, she manages it on her own.

The Health and Hygiene Minister par excellence

One of the biggest remedies of the current crisis is to maintain proper health and hygiene at home. Every member is supposed to wash hands at regular intervals. There is a bottle of sanitiser in every room. Anybody who enters the house has to sanitise hands and for a double-check also wash his hands.

Anybody stepping outside the house has to wear a mask and carry gloves. Negligence is not acceptable. Sweeping, mopping, washing clothes and other daily chores have not been compromised in the absence of domestic help. Kids and spouses with their limited talent pool also contribute to trying to lessen the burden of the lady of the house.

One day while discussing with the daughter, father was appreciating how mom has taken over most of the roles at home and how he has none. The daughter replies with a smile. Why Dad? You still are the Labour Minister of this house. It’s because of your labour and hard work that mom can do so. The father is a bit confused! Was it a touch of sarcasm or an appreciation?

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There are more stories on the current lockdown situation. You can click on the following stories directly:

Social distancing is good in turbulent times but don’t make it a habit

A Virus Invasion in the world of Mosquitoes and Houseflies

A Viral Infection, a Lockdown and a Family that’s willing to fight it