It has been a month since Padmakshi retired. Forty years of a job, which she neither hated nor loved. A job, which gave her strength to raise two sons, and salvage a husband.
The first month of her retirement went well. She binged on Netflix and Prime; scrolled up a lot on social media; and slept a couple of hours more than often.
“I’m thinking of starting an office of my own,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s better than watching BigBoss everyday,” her elder son replied. He saw his mom pretty much in a single pose for a month. Slouching on the couch and staring at the TV.
She restarted her work, but there is no necessity anymore to commit to something where her heart didn’t lie.
“I’ll get a fitness trainer certificate and start a gym,” she said.
“That’s cool,” replied the younger son, “Golds Gym has a good fitness training program,” he said googling up about it. Her husband was busy scrolling on his phone.
She started her classes. But, age is often not just a number but an undeniable fact. She couldn’t get the certification. Failures aren’t new for Padmakshi though.
“I’ll learn new recipes so that I can cook for your kids as well,” she said.
“Mom! I’m not even married!” the elder son said.
“Yeah, but…” she was searching for words.
“Mom. Can you do something? For me?” The last two words were deliberate.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Do nothing,” he suggested.
“I’ve been doing nothing all the while,” Padmakshi said, changing channels on the TV.
The elder son took the remote and switched the TV off.
“No Mom. You’ve been mindlessly watching the TV; you couldn’t be bored for a second; and you keep finding distractions… you’re doing a lot of things. I’m asking you to do none of it.”
“Okay, from tomorrow!” she said, snatching the remote from her son and watched another BigBoss episode that night.
Next day, her sons ganged up and removed the internet connection. They removed the TV wires and locked her phone in a cupboard. They learnt these acts from their mother only, during their exams.
She woke up. She sat in the hall. He had was habitually trying to find her phone and remote. She couldn’t find them. She shouted, “where’s the remote?”, but none replied. She understood. Her husband was busy scrolling on his phone.
After an hour of idling, she went out for a walk, necked up, with her pet. She petted and played with the dog for half an hour. There was an urge to click pictures, but there was no phone.
She returned and went to take a bath. She sang some old Telugu and Hindi songs as she bathed. Her younger son rushed to call his elder brother to listen to the song coming from the bathroom. They got used to listening to YouTube videos from the bathroom. “When was last time we heard mom singing?” they wondered.
They cooked together and had lunch at the dining table that was put to disuse for long. They chatted. Gossiped about neighboring aunties and uncles. She took a nap thereafter.
“Can I take my phone?” she asked.
“Why?” The elder son asked in return.
“To see if I got any message.” She said.
“We’ll see it in the morning?” He suggested.
She cribbed and walked back to the hall. She went to the balcony to have a glimpse of the setting sun, which she didn’t see for many years now. She watered her plants in the balcony and removed a few weeds. The rose plant had flowered, and she enjoyed looking at it, touching it and smelling it.
They sat together for dinner again, eating slowly than ever.
“Now tell me mom. What do you want to do?”, her elder son asked.
“I want to learn Kuchipudi…”, she paused.
“Okay?…” the elder son was waiting for her to finish.
“So that I can teach it to your kids as well!” She said and ate another spoon of rice.
“Mom!” he yelled and she broke into a chuckle.
They ate and laughed heartily and slept. They slept well that night.
I wrote this story at HWC session. The prompt was to write something with a Hobby being the main theme. I chose “Doing Nothing” as the hobby. I wrote about it early this year in one of my letters.
After reading this story, I got these recommendations from the audience. You’d like them as well:
Susegad: One of the audiences is from Goa. She said that the story reminded her of a Konkani word Susegad. It is derived from the Portuguese word sossegado ('quiet'). It is about a Goan lifestyle that refers to a relaxed, content and fulfilled state of being. This BBC blog wrote more about it.
Another writer from the audience suggested this beautiful song. I loved it.
Wow. Bo Burnham is a genius. Musical and otherwise!