Hot milk tea with just the right amount of sugar, with my morning breakfast, has been my favourite for so long now that compromising on that feels really bad. And despite all the love in this world for that morning tea, I have not had it for the past 15 days. Thankfully, tomorrow is the last day of my “tea without sugar” or no tea at all phase.
Suddenly, I had to stop sugar, rice, potatoes, maida, bread, and packaged food from my diet because of one of the medicines I am taking for my nerve pain. Rice is not a very big thing for me, and I don’t need it to eat every day. Potatoes I can do without for a few days, and maida and processed food are not in my everyday staple diet, so it was fine.
But my morning tea! The tea I am used to having for the past many years with my morning breakfast, sometimes infused with the grated ginger and crushed cardamoms in the regular milk tea with sugar, and more recently with brown sugar instead of white sugar. But no sugar at all? I can do without all those sweets, laddoos, rasgullas, even my favourite chocolates for a few days, but chai…I am honestly telling you it was difficult. And I am so, so, so happy that tomorrow is the last day of my “tea without sugar” phase.
You know, when I was younger, and someone used to say that they can’t do their work unless they have had their tea, or they feel tired and have a headache if they don’t have their tea, I didn’t understand. Though I don’t understand the real correlation between these things till today, one thing I’m sure of – tea is an emotion. We chai lovers love to have our chai, like we have it, every single day. Period.
Maybe chai is the one thing that gives us the feeling of “some things don’t change, and they don’t need to change” every day, amidst the ever-changing seasons of life. I don’t remember exactly when I started to hold onto my morning tea, but I guess it’s fantastic. Because sometimes I have to hold onto life with that cup of tea in my hands – one sip at a time!
I am not the person who likes to clean every nook and corner, and room, and hall of the home every day like it’s Diwali, but I am certainly a kind of person who prefers a cleaner and more organized space when it comes to everyday life.
I have a younger sister who usually handles the household cleaning and laundry on weekends, like it’s Diwali on Monday. She spends hours and hours cleaning the clutter, organizing the shelves, and cleaning each section of the home.
She says cleaning is therapeutic to her. Fine. It can be. But are our weekends only meant for this? I one hundred percent disagree. Weekends, holidays, leave days, off days, and break days are mostly for us to get back to ourselves. If you know what I mean!
Sure, we have to make sure that the house is clean, the wardrobe is organized, the study area is well set up, the fridge is fully stocked, and our kitchen and bathroom have all the essential supplies. But, we can’t make it a habit to look after the housekeeping stuff, our primary job on those days.
I have asked her to at least get a part-time househelp for everyday basic cleaning so she can be a bit more relaxed and chill on weekends. It will give her much relief. But her satisfaction, according to her, which she gets only by cleaning the house herself, will be compromised then.
I hope she understands that her life holds a lot more beautiful, exciting, and meaningful things to do and derive satisfaction from, rather than dusting, brooming, and mopping the floor like it’s going to become the white marble one day.
Now that I have a househelp, I know how much relieved I am with each waking day. I can comfortably wake up naturally when I have had enough sleep without worrying about the dirty dishes in the sink we left last night. Di comes and does the dishes, brooming, dusting, and mopping within an hour of the whole house while we, Abhi and I, can focus on morning exercises, getting ready for the day ahead on time, early morning reading, and cooking our meals for the day together.
When you have a relatively bigger house with large spaces and a few spare rooms, it becomes sometimes difficult to do it all alone. And delegating a few things saves your time and a lot more energy for the rest of the work you want to excel in.
Having said that, yes, I have a househelp now, but I am also the person who makes sure that cleanliness stays throughout the day, and the things that belong to a particular space should be kept to that particular place only after use. And this is a very important thing when it comes to cleanliness in general. For me, this is very important.
Books on the shelf, clothes in the cupboard, shoes in the shoe racks, laptop on the desk, extra things in the storage room, and stuff like that.
Recently, I came back to our apartment after a good eight months in Delhi, and my hubby is 99 percent opposite to me….okay, let’s say 90 percent opposite to me in this particular thing. When I live with him, he behaves a good 80-90 in this stuff, but when he is alone…..I can’t say anything!
So, we took a good few 5-6 days, once a week preferably, and did the proper arranging, rearranging, organizing, and reorganizing of our whole space together. It was a lot more hectic, confusing, and irritating initially, but now I can feel and soak in the calm and beauty I feel inside here. And thanks to my househelp di, our everyday cleaning stuff is taken care of very well.
Cleaning your study area and arranging your books in order, setting up your desk space with all the gadgets you need, folding and arranging your clothes properly in your wardrobe, organizing kitchen stuff in categories and boxes, rearranging your bedroom with a few changes here and there – it all gives a certain sense of order, calmness, positivity, and high vibes in general. And your soul can feel it. That’s why cleaning the physical clutter around you is so important for feeling healthier, calmer, and clearer in the space you call home.
So yeah, tidying up works for me. And I know it works for many as well. What about you? Does it really help, or does it make things unnecessarily complicated for you? Share your thoughts. I would love to know about your side of the story.
Health, especially good health when you are physically, mentally, and emotionally sound and strong, is a privilege we take for granted every day.
My hospital visits and frequent surprising ailments in the recent past have made me aware of this even more. Right now, it’s 4:35 am in the morning, I am sitting in front of my laptop, and typing this piece for my blog happily and peacefully after having a deep and restorative sleep at night. And I am happily doing this. But this wasn’t the case just a few days back.
Almost two to three weeks back, I had an excruciating nerve and back pain in my body, which led me to a very bad physical and emotional space. Things feel very heavy and bad when you can’t move any part of your body without crying in pain. A lot of pain!
Luckily, I have Abhi(my hubby, my better half, and my partner). He carefully, and with a lot of patience (a lot of patience!), took me to the hospital, and we immediately started the medications. Thankfully, painkillers started working well, and I got the immediate, much-needed relief I needed that time. Medicines are still continuing. And precautions have to be taken in everyday life to avoid such kind of pain. I am mindful of the situation more now.
In the initial 2-3 days of medication, I used to sleep a lot during the day because of heavy doses, and any physical movement was also not very easy due to weakness. Though I still feel weak sometimes. And I started hating the fact that I was only lying, sleeping, and sleeping all day.
In times like these, you start to see health very differently. Suddenly, even walking comfortably for an hour or so feels like a big privilege. Sleeping and waking up on time feels like an impractical and highly privileged thing. And then in the recovery process, you start to respect your body, your health, and your circumstances, which ensures that you get this privilege as a basic everyday need in your life. Many people don’t get it for years.
Even right now, when I remember my condition two to three weeks back, sitting in my study and writing this blog comfortably, feels very different. It feels like a blessing. And I know deep down that it is a blessing. The priceless one indeed!
May divine bless you with a very good physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, financial, and social health and well-being.
I am noticing one thing. As I am growing older, I am more and more inclined towards home-cooked meals. For me, now, the Ghar ka khana is ultimate heaven.
Although since childhood I have been that kid who used to eat home-cooked meals only, and chips, biscuits, icecreams, or samosas were the things of the weekend. I was never that kid with a junk food habit.
But there was one more thing. I was also not the one who used to eat ghar ka khana happily. Actually, till age 8, I can remember I was the kid whose parents really struggled to feed her. I was very thin, usually sick, and an underweight kid then. Mummy papa tried many things, but it just didn’t work. I hated eating veggies and used to throw them in the dustbin. I had no liking for any fruit as such. Daal I didn’t like, roti, and rice I used to eat with a little oil and salt. Yeah, that was me. And bread? I used to like bread, jam, or bread with ghar ki malai then.
Mumma papa got me a few medicinal syrups so that I can feel hungry and eat proper meals, but that wasn’t very helpful either. Yes, samosa, maggie, noodles, icecream, chocolates, chips were all my occasional friends then. Occasionally means once a week or every two weeks here.
I was 8 when I got admitted to my hostel in Banasthali in the 4th standard. It was the year 2005.
There, things started changing. We had fixed meal times, and we had to reach our mess on time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. We used to take our plates, and our wardens used to serve us the meals. There, I started eating healthily. I don’t know what it was! Was that the effect of community, because we used to go together for our meals, sit with each other, eat and talk, and sometimes talk a lot and eat while we talked? I don’t know!
I kind of started eating like a healthy kid. The hatred for veggies took a bit of time to go, and it had to go because there I couldn’t throw my food in the dustbin so easily. I had to finish my food properly. And then, the variety of food, the taste, the menu was fortunately very good in my hostel. Sure, the hostel food goes through its own share of downs, but those few days were nothing compared to the tasty meals we had and enjoyed during our hostel days.
I developed my liking for eating healthy and normal ghar ka khana because of my hostel days. I know it might sound ironic to many of you, but it’s true in my case. My health got better. I went from an underweight kid to a healthy BMI girl over time, and it stayed very well during all those years there.
Then, after coming to Delhi for my college studies, I naturally became inclined towards ghar ka khana as I started living with my parents. And then, I kind of started admiring and loving Mumma’s specialities more and more. I remember those were the days when I used to think that I had missed a lot of my mumma’s food, and now I am going to make up for all those years. Yes, I used to eat in my college canteen as well, and that was the time when I fell in love with momos, but ghar ka khana had become the ultimate satisfaction by then.
Today, I am not living in my hostel or with my mom permanently, but one thing I am grateful for is that I have fairly developed the taste and a lot more liking for ghar ka healthy and tasty khana. And honestly, I am grateful for this liking.
Yes, I do have my KFC chicken burger, momos, and chocolates, and cakes, but I have intentionally brought them to a few cheat meals or day outs in a month. They are occasional. Ghar ka khana is the regular thing for me.
I hope more and more people start including more home-cooked meals in their lives. I know it’s not easy every time. Especially when you are not good at cooking, it is difficult. And many times, you have a time crunch as well. However, taking a step towards making this happen is a hundred percent worth your time. I have no doubt about it.
It truly is. Imagine you wake up naturally, without an alarm, after a deep restorative sleep at night, and feel very fresh and excited to get up and start your day on a healthy note. Isn’t it a blessing?
For me, it surely is. And especially now, when I have started to listen to my body and understand my rhythm and energy throughout the day, I have started seeing the immediate results of proper sleep, proper rest time, and waking up feeling fresh and healthy towards the day ahead.
It’s like you are starting your day with your happy hormones, right? Isn’t that cool? For me, a hundred percent.
Honestly, I am kind of developing a lot of love and respect for early to bed and early to rise thing. And when you actually live it, you get to know what all you actually miss while scrolling social media and Netflixing all night. I have done that. And I do these things still now and then. But the time, energy, and intention behind those things have changed, or I can say are changing. And for me, it’s a healthy and positive thing.
The feeling of having a proper, good night, restful, and happy sleep without any interruptions, and waking up naturally after a few good hours of rest is pure gold. And this is one of the foundations of our health and longevity, which we don’t take seriously enough.
Sure, life happens. You fall sick. You are not in a good physical and mental state, relatively, and sleep gets affected. No doubt about it. But, we have the power to start, restart, again start, and restart again and again to sleep early, take proper rest for our body and mind rejuvenation, and wake up not because of an alarm, but your internal body alarm, every day.
I hope you have a good sleep, a very good rest time, and a very beautiful, calm, quiet, and soft mornings ahead.
Srishti Kumari 