Radhika MundraEver since we developed understanding in our childhood, the most heard phrase in any language would easily be, ‘Sharing is Caring’. As grown-ups, we settle in our everyday roles so deeply that when adversity strikes, we become helpless. Unprecedented events like the lockdown because of the spread of COVID-19 have managed to force us out of our character. Such changes help us evolve and discover ourselves in a way we never thought possible and help us #ShareTheLoad of our family.
During the lockdown, work-from-home became the new normal in no time. While some worked from home, some worked at home tirelessly. The stay at home moms or wives have been the most affected people in this lockdown because the burden of entertaining and catering to the needs of the whole family had fallen entirely upon them. My husband’s and mine, both of our businesses were on a standstill because of the lockdown.
In my case, for the past few months before the lockdown, we were in the process of finalising our newly-built home. We had started moving our stuff to the new house long before the lockdown had been announced. We had no plan to live in the new house when the lockdown began because certain significant installations were due. With great uncertainty, we shifted to the new house on 23rd March 2020, the day next to the ‘Janta Curfew’. With half of our stuff there and a half here, we were quite confused with what was happening.
Thankfully, our househelp was still with us and they moved to the new house with us. For one month, a routine was followed and we lived comfortably, trying new recipes in the kitchen and sharing the chores of the house. In the month of May, our househelp left for their village and rightfully so. We all want to be in the comfort of our homes with our respective families when we face difficult times.
The maintenance of a new house is a great hassle and has been since the day we moved in. Now that the househelp was gone, we as the women of the house-as prevalent in the Indian households-had our hands full. With three floors to manage, we would’ve had no time on our hands if we hadn’t gotten the support from our family. Fortunately, the men in our house rose to the occasion and showed us how the inequality in Indian households can be addressed simply if they decide to #ShareTheLoad.
While we, my MIL and I, prepared the food in the morning, the dusting and wiping of the middle floor were being taken care of by my FIL and SIL. My husband and my MIL took care of the ground floor while I handled the top floor. Many-a-times, my husband decided to become the chef during dinner time, and I became the sous-chef and vice versa.
For me, the true trouble wasn’t the long list of chores, but this one annoying chore that I hated to the core, i.e., laundry. Pickup services were all abruptly halted; so in a hurry, there were several things in our previous home that we couldn’t bring with us due to the lockdown. One important thing that we couldn’t bring was the washing machine. You cannot imagine my horror.
One of the days, while I was painfully hand-washing our clothes after cleaning and cooking, to my surprise, my husband decided to take charge of the laundry. When he decided to #ShareTheLaundry, I too, decided not to hate doing it so much. Over time, I realised that it’s not that big a hassle, especially when someone else is doing it. Haha! Here, have a look at my husband #SharetheLoad of laundry~
We all began washing our own dishes. While we were off ‘work’, the household chores began mounting upon us, but thankfully we all realised that sharing is truly caring. Hence, #ShareChoresMultiplyLove. Now that the lockdown in my town has been partially lifted and both of our businesses have begun, we still share the load of the laundry and I am truly thankful for that. There are days when I wash more than 10 pieces of clothing and so does he. It is no fun, truly, but I’ve come to not hate it as much as I did previously. But I still enjoy the fact that lockdown has taught us our responsibilities rather patiently.
In our state, the lockdown has been lifted to a great extent. We still have a huge house to care for, and still no househelp. But to be truthful, when every member of the house cares for the home, we can be enough. Even though we have returned to our routines before the lockdown, we do the chores collectively. I’d say, we’ve defeated the lockdown with a different kind of positive!
During this time, Ariel brought out this thoughtfully enlightening advert that shows how times of crisis help us bring out the best versions of ourselves. Check it out below-
‘I will #ShareTheLoad and help in household chores in association with Ariel India and BlogAdda‘
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