I
belong to the ordinary working kind. All my days pretty much are the same. I
wake
up at six thirty, cook lunch for twenty
thirty minutes, wake up my daughter (which takes approximately fifteen minutes),
cajole her to finish her morning duties. I brush her teeth and bathe her( as cajolery
fails miserably). I shout at the top of my lungs when she complains about how
cold the water is or how I pour the water in her head without telling her
first.
It’s a battle field, the bathroom.
Then comes the uniform… the id card that goes
missing every single morning.
My million runs to the kitchen to make
something that could be called as “cooked.”
Next,
is the struggle to make her eat breakfast, which is just a small portion of the
lunch I just made for school. I shout
incessantly, while I am in the shower
too “finish your lunch…sorry breakfast”, “fill your water bottle”, “wear your
shoes” … (Here I must say this “ Thank
god for Velcro!”)
The
battle is not over, it is only relocated!
We hop on the two wheeler and off to school.
The traffic on the school road is something scarier as kids are in the scene
too. Everyone is in a hurry, and every
grown up there including me violates road rules. Once I overtook a van from the
left and the driver shouted at me angrily. It was a total embarrassment and the
presence of my daughter made me feel
even more shameful. And there were times when I am affected by someone
else’s mistake. It is a mayhem out there. The bad roads to the school infuriated
me. It made me think about the country and the serious infra structure issues
we have.
I
wanted to put an end this routine of mine.
Now
I wake up at five thirty. The first thing I do is play 9x0 or VH1. I cook what
I have learnt from the net, quick and easy recipes, that my daughter loves. I
stopped giving her lunch in the morning, instead I give her something simple
like scrambled eggs and milk or dosa.
I
made her a checklist too “My Day My Behavior!” The first question is “Did I
wake up with a smile?” and the last is “Did I brush my teeth before bed?” just
simple eight questions that she has to check every night. And at the end of
each week I reward her if she gets all eight ticks. Rewards include visit to a
park, mehendhi or ice cream. I didn’t have to shout no more.
And
the road to school…wow! I could feel the wind now, something very simple but
that which I didn’t feel before. The world is beautiful again. And I changed it
by changing me. Yes this is an age old technique and we all must have heard
this mentioned by some wise men , but this one actually works! It is true. Still there are unpleasantness in home or on
the road or at work but I would say my morning routine has improved my life
a lot!
