Miss you Lathika!
Looks like I am not one of those who updates their blogs frequently. I am currently aiming for once a week update... which I think is a decent enough target. Let's see how that goes.
Anyway, I've been trying to spruce up the house... rearranging and redecorating without investing in anything new! I have managed to make the guest room look presentable. Here is a sneak preview. Prospective guests hurry!!! Offer open only till June 2011!
Today the bathrooms were getting a facelift. So the day was spent scrubbing bathroom floors... that's when I so so sooo missed Lathika - my maid in India, who back then I thought was quite a kaam chor!
My excitement of moving to beautiful Switzerland died a quick death, when I came face to face with this mountain of housework that dwarfed even the Swiss alps!
Unlike my friend May, I have never been too fond of housework. (According to May's husband, her mother has raised maids :))
My mother did her best too. When I was growing up, she made sure that all of us did our bit around the house. So it isn't like I don't know how to do my laundry or roll perfect chapatis... it's just that ever since I left home (10 years now), I haven't had to move a finger! You see, one doesn't become lazy overnight, it takes years of practice!
Way back in 2000, I first left home to go to Pune for my Masters. Those days, we ate at the college mess and made an even bigger mess at home and no one could care a damn!
A while later, I moved to Mumbai and lived as a paying guest for 4 years... there too I did zilch! The landlady (slightly deranged one - has the potential to be the central character of many a blogs) made me tea, breakfast and even dinner. The maid cleaned the room and washed my clothes, all I did was watch TV in my room and sleep. There have been times when a whole day has gone by because I kinda... didn't wake up! I had even mastered the art of sleeping standing up in the Mumbai trains! ... yea, I am really good at this sleeping stuff.
After I got married, I moved to Gurgaon and there too life didn't change too much. The only major difference was that now there were two of us sleeping till 2 in the afternoon on Sundays! The poor maid would be standing by the bedroom door, chanting 'Didi main kya banaooooon?' and we would be snoring!
So the move to Switzerland was like a heart attack. The horrible 4 letters words... cook, wash and dust, that I'd been avoiding like the plague, had finally caught up with me. Overnight, Sheryl had transformed into Sarla bai! Oh yes, and then I got pregnant. To add some variety to the otherwise dull routine, I now teamed crappy housework with notorious nausea! Cook, wash, sweep, Mop... puke... oops mop again! Oh what-e-fun!
Anyway, it's been 14 months since the baby arrived and I can't remember the last time I got a full night's sleep :( If there is something called sleep debt, then someone owes me BIG time!!!
Dreaming of maids and uninterrupted sleep...
This is Sarla Bai, Sleepless in Switzerland signing off.
Anyway, I've been trying to spruce up the house... rearranging and redecorating without investing in anything new! I have managed to make the guest room look presentable. Here is a sneak preview. Prospective guests hurry!!! Offer open only till June 2011!
Today the bathrooms were getting a facelift. So the day was spent scrubbing bathroom floors... that's when I so so sooo missed Lathika - my maid in India, who back then I thought was quite a kaam chor!
My excitement of moving to beautiful Switzerland died a quick death, when I came face to face with this mountain of housework that dwarfed even the Swiss alps!
Unlike my friend May, I have never been too fond of housework. (According to May's husband, her mother has raised maids :))
My mother did her best too. When I was growing up, she made sure that all of us did our bit around the house. So it isn't like I don't know how to do my laundry or roll perfect chapatis... it's just that ever since I left home (10 years now), I haven't had to move a finger! You see, one doesn't become lazy overnight, it takes years of practice!
Way back in 2000, I first left home to go to Pune for my Masters. Those days, we ate at the college mess and made an even bigger mess at home and no one could care a damn!
A while later, I moved to Mumbai and lived as a paying guest for 4 years... there too I did zilch! The landlady (slightly deranged one - has the potential to be the central character of many a blogs) made me tea, breakfast and even dinner. The maid cleaned the room and washed my clothes, all I did was watch TV in my room and sleep. There have been times when a whole day has gone by because I kinda... didn't wake up! I had even mastered the art of sleeping standing up in the Mumbai trains! ... yea, I am really good at this sleeping stuff.
After I got married, I moved to Gurgaon and there too life didn't change too much. The only major difference was that now there were two of us sleeping till 2 in the afternoon on Sundays! The poor maid would be standing by the bedroom door, chanting 'Didi main kya banaooooon?' and we would be snoring!
So the move to Switzerland was like a heart attack. The horrible 4 letters words... cook, wash and dust, that I'd been avoiding like the plague, had finally caught up with me. Overnight, Sheryl had transformed into Sarla bai! Oh yes, and then I got pregnant. To add some variety to the otherwise dull routine, I now teamed crappy housework with notorious nausea! Cook, wash, sweep, Mop... puke... oops mop again! Oh what-e-fun!
Anyway, it's been 14 months since the baby arrived and I can't remember the last time I got a full night's sleep :( If there is something called sleep debt, then someone owes me BIG time!!!
Dreaming of maids and uninterrupted sleep...
This is Sarla Bai, Sleepless in Switzerland signing off.
Sarla.. oops Sheryl ...
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up. Yes the landlady indeed deserves central character in many blogs or even books.Had the joy of experiencing her myself.
Keep going and make us laugh :)
That's not a guest room dear!!! That's a 5 star room!!!!! :D :D!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe room looks fab Sheryl and so do you!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying the company of maids in Gurgaon but terribly miss the peace of mind one has without them prancing around 24X7..
Never had one. very very happy without one. Can't handle a kaam chor hanging around all the time.
ReplyDeleteeven in hostel washed and ironed my own clothes and cleaned my own room. Of course, the rest of the batch thought I was MAD! But it seemed like most of the "South Indians" in our batch washed their own clothes. couldn't stand the smell when they came back from the dhobhi and no, there were no washing machines.
Guess May's & my mothers, did raise maids. LOL
Thank goodness kim!!! I thought something must be wrong with me!! Glad to know I have a partner!!! I did finally have a maid, when we moved to our own apartment since it was big and I was working full time with two kids. I trained her well since she had never worked before as a maid. In 6 months she on the MOST WANTED list and finally began working like a kaam chor in my home. And for the finale, somebody told her we are relocating, so she chose to stop coming 2 months before we left without even bothering to tell me!!! So much for maids!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post Sherylee and the room looks great! Keep writing...updating your blog once a week is a good resolution :)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read your post on your landlady ;)
Wait for all the spoilt Indians to come and mess up your lovely, immaculate guest room
ReplyDeleteHee :) You are making me LAUGH! I want a maid...and somebody to reimburse my sleep debt...you are full of good ideas :)
ReplyDeleteAnd that guest room?! Wowza. I could repay YEARS of sleep debt in a room as lovely as that.
I'm honored to be on your blog list!