Home work or housework is the work you do in and around the home. Normally, this is viewed as an oxymoronic phrase or an anachronism. For it is largely percieved that home is where we essentially laze around and have a good time without so much as moving a muscle.This erroneous belief or perception is no doubt a result of decadent, overinduinlgent lifestyles, reinforced mostly in one's chilhood.Prosperous households of yore had a bevy of obsequious servants; who would comply to every (well,almost every) wish uttered by the' babalog' community. This arrangement produced vast numbers of indolent individuals, specially of the male sex, who had no clue as to what house work was, or the effort that it entailed.
Like all trends mortal, this too proved ephemeral. So , today we live in a world where maids (and reliable, non-criminal variety)are as rare as a well -preserved dinosaur egg.
I know of a cousin who had to cook his supper for few agonising days, in the absence of his better half(who was visiting her parents) and his domestic help(who had conveniently fallen ill ,in her mistresses' absence).His half -baked culinary efforts are an invariable source of hilarity at every family gathering.Ranging from the time he attempted to boil rice in a kettle(thereby blocking the spout with cooked rice),and cooking dal in an improperly closed lid of a pressurecooker(the pot lid' hitting the roof' at the first whistle; thereby creating an unusual, yellow coloured, abstract painting on the white ceiling.) His used towels were discovered , concealed in various unpredictable places; inside the cupboards and on kitchen cabinets(having been abandoned in haste and forgotten ) , all bearing interesting designs wrought on by the unchecked onslaught of fungal growth.
Every housewife has a repertoire of similar stories . Of coasters used as bookmarks and dirty tea cup bases producing ringed geometric patterns on pristine tablecloths,of kitchen dusters mysteriously disappearing, to be redicovered days later(patterned in dirt and fungus) wedged inexplicably beneath the CPU of the computer.So on and so forth.
The most popular hindu goddess by far is the Goddess Durga. One of her synonyms is the Annapurna(one who fills granaries/plates with food"anna"). Another form is the humble broom 'jhaddoo'.(there is a verse in the' chandi - paath' which compares the Goddess to the broom-the 'dirt cleaner'). A woman who is being welcomed into the new household after her wedding , would be ritually blessed to "be the Annapurna".
So it is actually an honour(sanctioned by the scriptures) to be a householder, and thereby "a filler of plates" and a "cleaner of dirt".Amen to that
Like all trends mortal, this too proved ephemeral. So , today we live in a world where maids (and reliable, non-criminal variety)are as rare as a well -preserved dinosaur egg.
I know of a cousin who had to cook his supper for few agonising days, in the absence of his better half(who was visiting her parents) and his domestic help(who had conveniently fallen ill ,in her mistresses' absence).His half -baked culinary efforts are an invariable source of hilarity at every family gathering.Ranging from the time he attempted to boil rice in a kettle(thereby blocking the spout with cooked rice),and cooking dal in an improperly closed lid of a pressurecooker(the pot lid' hitting the roof' at the first whistle; thereby creating an unusual, yellow coloured, abstract painting on the white ceiling.) His used towels were discovered , concealed in various unpredictable places; inside the cupboards and on kitchen cabinets(having been abandoned in haste and forgotten ) , all bearing interesting designs wrought on by the unchecked onslaught of fungal growth.
Every housewife has a repertoire of similar stories . Of coasters used as bookmarks and dirty tea cup bases producing ringed geometric patterns on pristine tablecloths,of kitchen dusters mysteriously disappearing, to be redicovered days later(patterned in dirt and fungus) wedged inexplicably beneath the CPU of the computer.So on and so forth.
The most popular hindu goddess by far is the Goddess Durga. One of her synonyms is the Annapurna(one who fills granaries/plates with food"anna"). Another form is the humble broom 'jhaddoo'.(there is a verse in the' chandi - paath' which compares the Goddess to the broom-the 'dirt cleaner'). A woman who is being welcomed into the new household after her wedding , would be ritually blessed to "be the Annapurna".
So it is actually an honour(sanctioned by the scriptures) to be a householder, and thereby "a filler of plates" and a "cleaner of dirt".Amen to that
we salute the manager at home..............as brought out beautifully no less than the divine........hope it attains the well deserved salvation......like the one aspired for by the taciturn and dehydradted mendicant lying on his bed of nails!
ReplyDeleteOne word "Entrepreneur" of our home where we find our existence.
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