Sitting in Silence

 Author: Reenu M.

Pallavi came out of her bedroom after giving her husband Girish yet another reminder that the cable & gas bills needed to be paid online tonight. It was nearly 8:30 p.m. which meant that if Girish did not pay the cable bill at least, their daughter Gargi was sure to create a ruckus. Gargi’ exams were getting over tomorrow and she was looking forward to catching up on her favourite TV shows. Pallavi realised that she had just half-hour remaining before spending time with Gargi to prepare for the last exam Social Studies. She still had the utensils from dinner to wash, clean the kitchen, fold, and iron the dried clothes, set up the things for making breakfast & lunch and make her TO-DO list for tomorrow.

Meanwhile Girish was struggling with work. Two members of his team had taken sick leave because of extreme fatigue and suspected Covid in their respective families. He was frustrated because even while his team was shrinking, the delivery date was still the same. To add to the frustration, Pallavi would interrupt him constantly reminding him of things that he had to do. He wondered why Pallavi did not understand that if he did not work as per expectations, then bill payments would be a bigger problem.

Both Pallavi & Girish were overwhelmed by the tasks still looming despite them slogging through the day. Even though they were separated by the wall dividing the drawing room, and the bedroom, they had identical thoughts – to sit in silence for 20 minutes without any guilt.

The results were amazing.

Pallavi did the folding and ironing of the clothes while she asked Gargi the answers to Social Studies questions. After 9:30 p.m., she put on music from the 80s. She washed the utensils, cleaned the kitchen, and sorted the vegetables while humming and singing.

By 10:00 p.m. when she entered the bedroom to give Girish some coffee, he apologised for being short with her and told her that he had paid all the bills. He had told his boss very firmly about his resource issues and his boss had been open to his ideas of extending delivery.

 

Zinger for the Day:

Take a 20-minute break from your routine daily. Sit in Silence. It is OK!