Time for free!

We have all heard quotes and sayings about how not to take anything for granted in life and here I am, writing about just how I did ; not intentionally though. Moving to two countries in less than a year is no cakewalk but things went smoothly and in September, we moved to Hong Kong. Initially language looked like a huge menace but then I somehow got used to it.

When in Singapore, being unemployed was such a pain and I had so much time to kill. Thankfully in HK, I managed to find things to do, be employed and was enjoying all the free time I was getting. Being a homemaker, one generally does not realise how much work we do; starting from making a hot cup of coffee to making the bed before hitting the sack. Normal chores everyday but things we usually take for granted. Not that I am complaining about it, but I enjoy doing it. When you live in a clean home, you feel clean within. I also found so much happiness standing atop the marble slab and looking down from the 38th floor to take in the wonderful sight outside my window. A jump on top and back down – that’s all it took.

And then, 2 weeks back, it happened. I was extremely thrilled to have met friends from my hometown and speaking the local language itself was a pleasure all right! After a couple of hours of good food and drink, great conversation and generally a great time, we walked out to satisfy our sweet teeth (tooth for many?!) Bam! I’m down on my derriere with my ankle right under it! What a sight! The look on my husband’s face spelt – Drunk? Gosh no!

There was no looking back or rather there was no looking at how my ankle was ‘blooming’! Then, the usual story of being diagnosed with a multiple fracture and the wonderful news of being arrested for 6 weeks by a few sheets of plastic of Paris! I enjoy my free time all right, but here time was thrusting itself upon me saying, “I am for free, take me!”

I thought things which we get for free are never given up and freebees are always what we look out for. But two weeks into it, I am despising it. The 38th floor view has not vanished, but I can’t stand atop the slab anymore. I have to watch someone else do the cleaning and cooking. The clean home looks like a house now and I so feel unclean within. They say it’s like an extended holiday and I must put my feet up (literally!) and relax. Oh no! No more feet up please, and no more relaxing for me. I am so done. When I see the ladies head to the market, I feel jealous; when I see joggers and walkers on the running trail, I want to be there too. The’ things to do list’ gets longer only when you are NOT allowed to do anything! I can’t even go to the store to pick my favourite ice-cream.

Never gave a second thought to small pleasures of life. It just occurred and I enjoyed it. Now, this is all I yearn for. Even my writing looks rusty just like my back which has rested too long. Gosh! I can write so much better, but it’s all I can come up with. Dull, mundane, lifeless lines… But I can’t complain – one thing I can do with my feet up!

Shades…

Two shades of green, random yellow specks, white and grey coats and the constant drizzle. The smell of wet earth. Wow! With ‘A Love’ by Jeffrey Archer fresh on my mind, I look out of the window; the window could have belonged to a cottage in faraway Italy. A cup of freshly brewed coffee, re-reading ‘A Love’, treating my taste buds to a plateful of freshly cooked penne…

But the window belongs to a building which nests a hospital. The green leaves are losing its charm. They fall down and end up under the mammoth wheels of monstrous vehicles. It’s still pouring, and the earth, wet as yet. So are my eyes…