A day after Janata Curfew: Household work matters

Janata curfew was obeyed with dedication and celebrated with great fanfare at 5 pm on Sunday. Many even broke the rule not understanding the purpose of the curfew.

Nonetheless, the reality dawned upon everyone by Sunday evening that Janata curfew would continue in another avatar in Delhi, NCR and other parts of the country. A complete lockdown was announced in 75 districts where coronavirus patients were registered. What felt as a novel experiment settled like a heavy reality to me that life, as I knew, would not remain the same. In hindsight, I feel the Janata Curfew was to get the people inside their homes before tougher decisions could be announced.

The first thing to dawn upon me was as to who would do the household chores. Indian households are heavily dependent on maids. Even if you have a dishwasher or washing machine, Indians prefer someone to do the chore in person.

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It does not end with the housework. It includes kitchen work too. Understanding that maids will not be allowed to visit the society, I picked up my share of responsibility. What felt would be a small chore ended up as an unending task. I decided to start with washing utensils and dusting the house.

First, washing utensils is not easy. It takes time and is definitely cumbersome. Dusting is another tough job. What looks clean returns to the older form within half an hour. The list of household chores became long. From getting milk to bread to hunting for the over-worked garbage collector of the society is an unending task. My respect for household workers went high by miles. It is not that I took them for granted but a day’s work made me understand that even household work can be as good as tough labour.

Imagine if this is to continue for the next 30 days? Imagine that every household is to be bereft of every help they considered for granted? Imagine the plight of those people who do not own a personal vehicle and if they end up with an emergency? All these questions bothered me through the day until I got down to preparing for the office.

Worst was the thought that in case your loved one falls ill, there would be a time where you will not be able to accompany him or her and would have no control over the situation. Coronavirus will not only reorder the world, but it will also reorder our personal world. It will reorder our relationship with those you live with and those whom you rely upon. My only hope is that crisis allows the best to come out and not our worst.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)