How to clean your house. Lessons learned.

Here's what I've learned about how to clean a house on Diwali, rather for it :
1. You can never ever get ahead of the laundry. As long as you wish to be hygienic, there will always be something.
2. Dust can get into crockery EVEN IF IT IS BEHIND A GLASS CABINET WHICH IS NEVER OPENED! And that shit never just dusts away,no no, you have to wash everything with soap n water! Makes me want to eat off leaves and drink from my palms!
3. Dust is the enemy. Not religion or politics or corruption, just dust. Get it off of everything and you are going places!
4. When you finish cleaning one section of the house, and then proceed to another, be aware that by the time you are done with the latter, the former will be wanting cleaning again owing to DARK MAGIC. It is the evil in the world mocking you for mocking It.
5. The people you PAY to clean your house clearly dont do their job well so that's something to think about. I mean if i wanted to hover and make you clean I'd just do it myself! So I did!
6. Better to use your fancy China every single day. If it breaks then what the hell. One less dish to dust come Diwali.
7. Be sure to have a handy set of sitcoms on your lappy or hard drive to keep you cheered up because lemme tell you, you are bound to go into a rage once you see just how much work is there even with a maid!
8. The people you hire to clean stuff like fans or in my case cobwebs (I can't, where will the spiders go?) Won't do a halfway decent job. They will work in the evening after their usual shift and you won't be able to see clearly and you'll think oh good job and this is with your husband watching and agreeing (and he can spot dirt a mile away). The next morning, you will see the crap is mostly still where it was.
9. The nice news is the spiders are pretty tough little buggers. They come back!
10. Try not to fly off the handle when your mom mocks you over the fone saying hahaha I'm all done cos I do it myself everyday anyway! You should do it too. Yeah right.
11. If your little toes are fractured, it is not a good idea to kick the vaccum cleaner repeatedly when it pisses you off. Screen you Eureka Forbes. You sold us crap in a can.
12. Throw out all clothes (donate)that you haven't worn in the past year or ever! Detach from your worldly material possessions (except your books).
13. Keep at it. Come the festival of lights, feel satisfied and go to McDonald's. You deserve it.

Cleanliness is next to....is it?

So the festival of lights is coming up. And that means, above everything else, a complete and thorough house cleaning. And De-cluttering. This year since I am not cooking, I am going to go into cleaning overdrive and bring some much needed good energy to my home.

Naturally I started by making a list, a really long list at that. So thats done! Now all i need to do is execute it.

Ugh


I can also think of it as a workout in some ways. I guess I should factor in the gardening cum reorganizing of the plants I did yesterday. Lifting up cement pots all by myself really took it out of me and now my body is hurting like crazy. Back is out, one hip joint is out but that garden sure does look lovely! Got the maid to clean it too so it looks relatively clean. Repotted my lemon sapling, which I grew from seed!! Got scratched up separating all the climbing plants such as pumpkin, gourds etc from the other plants and thus preventing them from sucking the life out of them. put the tall plants in one balcony so nothing could climb on them and the shorter ones in the other. My maid aunty was horrified when she got to know I'd lifted the pots alone, she insisted we do it together next time. She is busy repotting my tomatoes and cauliflowers/radishes. she seemed pleased with the re-organization as well.


Called my MIL. Tried to make conversation with her but it was v.difficult. I couldn't think of anything to say and clearly neither could she. She had nothing to say and there was in fact a 3 minute silence, after which I figured I would have to ask something, so I asked  about her maid, how that was working out. Asked about her health to which as usual I got the standard, everything is great, no complains. Told her we were still kind of getting over the flu...told her I had got 2 okras from our garden.


It was difficult. I am not good at small talk. She also seems reluctant to share stuff or talk freely. I'm sure that is partly my own doing given how difficult I can get. But I can make the occasional call, its no bother. It is not as difficult to be cordial as one may think. I can do it. I can.

Monday onwards am starting my diet starts again, 13 days. Till the day before Diwali. The day of Diwali is a break/cheat day.

Lets hope I can do it well this time around! 

To Ladakh and back again

So Hubby and I went for a long 10-day vacation to the cold desert of Ladakh, a trip we have been planning since the beginning of our courtship. It was mindblowing! Truly exhausting however. The climate is really chilly, with cold cold biting winds nipping your nose all the while. The nose crusts and bleeds, it is difficult to walk and talk at the same time and there were 3 additional road trips in between in order to see the other more beautiful lakes and valleys. which were a part of the district.

It was easily the most beautiful place I've ever seen bar none. There was a certain peace of mind to be had from gazing at the milky way and  the millions of stars shining brightly every night. Clear blue skies, nearly no pollution, polite and well mannered people around us. A bit of shopping. IT was actually my hubby's Happy Birthday and this year much as I racked my brains to think of a way to make it special I could not!

This was the only thing that came to mind and He wanted a road trip but due to ongoing tensions in Srinagar (en route) it was inadvisable so we flew back and forth. We were on a lot of medicines to prevent acute mountain sickness which has claimed to ruin many a trip. We beat that for sure but first I had a terrible cold and on the last two days of the trip hubby caught the flu. I tell you, the pleasure and peace I saw on His face made the difficult parts of the trip all right and totally worth it.

Still recovering. No running, no workout, just taking our dog for his twice a day rounds and a bit of regular minimal housework. No energy no stamina. It feels like the exhaustion has settled into my bones and refuses to leave. Plus Diwali is coming and I need to get started on deep cleaning the house. It is the main part. Usually each year I cook a lot of delicacies, sweet and savoury, to celebrate but this year I wont. Mainly because I want to prepare for the 6K race (Airtel one is out as we missed the registration, but there are others) and I need to workout properly for it. I am determined. The end of this year is my weight loss target and for a change I plan to go home to my folks place in dubai for my birthday. My dad has graciously promised me a whole new wardrobes so I'm just going to land there with some empty suitcases. I can't wait. It has been over a decade since I've celebrated my birthday at home with my parents. I can't wait!

There was a day in Ladakh, when looking at the barren but painted landscape, nearly towards the end of the trip that I wept quietly. Of course hubby saw and asked me what was wrong but I didn't tell him. What could I say and how would he take it? would he understand? That I almost didn't want to go back home because I was fine here with no cell reception, cut off from the world, it's judgements, expectations and so forth. I was so anxious when we boarded the flight home because voila I would get cell reception again and I just didn't want it. I did not want someone counting how often I called or visited. Or comparing with other people they know who call their relative more frequently and visit often. The fact is, when people silently judge you, these judgements sooner or later have a way of becoming known. And someone like me doesn't expect judgements from the people she loved. And then I just get stunned. And then the wall builds up around me because it feels better to guard my thoughts. Only trouble with that is that I am also no good at small talk.

Oh well.