Quarantine memories - That "sinking" feeling

  

Last one year has been a totally different phase of life all together, whatever we accepted as normal and routine doesn't seem to be so. The shift has been unexpected and surprising at every turn of events. There is no more rush of getting up , getting ready, hitting road, honking, swearing at other motorists/ pedestrians, office time, mall time, movie time and eating out experience. We have swapped that for getting up late, leisurely breakfast, lunches, endless calls and conferences, devouring every available OTT content,  cooking, mopping, washing etc.,

Well Covid-19 has changed life so drastically, it has taught us that whatever we take for granted are not the ones to be taken and whatever we did not consider as important are really important. I don't like to sermon on that subject, as each of us would have our own experiences of finding our fallacies and strengths. 

While there is gloom, grim, pain about people testing positive, their recovery, their fight and all, but  there is little light shed on people who are tested negative while all others at home are tested positive and how is their struggle , fight and what is their side of story. I can narrate  my own story and my fight with the kitchen sink.

Yes, do not ever underestimate the power of kitchen sink, it is monstrous, it has unique ability to pull down your spirits and pose challenges constantly to wear you out and suck out every little ounce of energy from your body.  I realised it only when my wife and daughter tested positive and got isolated. 

Initial days of two family members getting tested positive was occupied with seeking medical counselling, ensuring parameters are tracked, a process is set to log the readings. Those days also were also spent on ensuring proper isolation, distancing,  daily process of care, rest and recovery. The next big challenge was to ensure both members and myself get the right portions of food and nutrition at right intervals.  That challenge was easy to mitigate with adequate and timely support of  brother's family living a floor below us.

With all the processes set,  adequate medical consulting being available and timely flow of food and other supplies, I was clear that half the battle is won and the other half is only a matter of time before both my dear ones recover and get out of quarantine.  Well  I was totally underprepared or ignored the challenge which would come in the form of Kitchen sink.  

My routine (the only one who is not in isolation at home) began with floor cleaning,  mopping , watering plants, coffee making, serving  ready and piping hot food (which came in copious volumes). Just when I thought that the life is sorted,  I observed the steady piling up of  vessels in kitchen sink. I said to myself ok, it is another routine to be added and started rinsing, washing and cleaning them.  

Of all the jobs /chores I can say it did overwhelm me a bit, I thought it is only a teething problem, which would settle down. I was completely wrong in giving myself such false comfort (Guys beware, don't fall for such false comfort) , I realised that  Kitchen sink is a black hole. You don't need a powerful telescope to peek into cosmos to find them,  the moment you stand there in front and start washing vessels, the sink has unique ability to prop up all kinds of  vessels, spoons, plates, filters ( I really wondered why and where did I use them !!).   You get sucked into it and all your efforts just continues to manifold . All that you can sense is water,  soap and scrubber. You are sucked into a trance and it makes you numb to feel any other emotion. Now  I know why they coined the term "Sinking feeling".

When you feel you are done with washing every last vessel/ utensil in the sink and you settle down for a hot cup of tea, you  only get a favour in return in form of a daunting task of washing a new set of tea vessel, strainer, spoons and a cup.  I almost made up my mind to take a vow of not drinking tea /coffee. 

Every night, I ensured that  I don't leave any vessel unwashed in sink , that morning sight of an empty and dry sink gave me a new high. A sense of victory and pride. Alas, its just a momentary bliss of  being on top , only to be drained down that pipe in the sink. Immediately after every meal you only end up seeing a painful sight of vessels heaped in the sink and that evil sink wickedly smiling back at you. I learnt my lesson and surrendered and I only prayed for recovery of my dear ones.

Yes, both my wife and daughter recovered, were out of quarantine. Now I see the Kitchen Sink not acting evil anymore,  I wonder that, is there some unique power with my wife to tame this Sink. I did think of  trying to find that out and see how I can imbibe that so that I can be prepared for a  combat at some point, but the inner voice in me warned to be safe than sorry. I  humbly accepted my position and stick to other chores and never ever try to take a tiff with that Kitchen sink.