A cup of Masala chai with warm breakfast on the side, no hurry to get anywhere and only the low background sound of news channels on the television spitting recent updates. This has been our morning routine, A’s and mine, for the last few days. While the kids are snuggling in their beds we catch up with each other’s work. Funnily, it doesn’t stretch beyond few minutes now. We confess that life as we know it is going to change and brace ourselves, a bit overwhelmed, for what may come.

There’s enough gloom in the world right now and I’m not going to dwell over it anymore. We know what we can and must do and should do it religiously, is all. All the professionals braving their lives for our sake deserve to be equipped and treated better. Let’s not let compassion fatigue make us bitter and change or influence the way we see each other.

Many novel and interesting things are happening on the home front and I would rather be thankful for them. I’m inspired to count my blessings for having a family that’s the biggest support system one can ask for. Yes, even my kids. Practicing social distancing must be hardest for them but they haven’t complained once for over ten days now.

Online worksheets are provided to both of them everyday. Thankfully, those keep them occupied and out of each other’s hair at least for a few hours. I leave them to their own volition and let them figure out what to do with their time. Playing ghoda-ghoda, reading books together, discovering games on the television or sneaking up in the kitchen for snacks, this naughty duo finds endless things to do all day. They gang up against us and I secretly like it. Also, they’re helping me out in household chores too.

We’re a foodie family and enjoy the tickle in our taste buds. However, with limited resources and health concerns indulging is not always advisable when we’re homebound. The dialogue at home has amusingly changed from ‘what are you cooking for us’ to ‘we’ll eat whatever is available’. Ever the pampering one though, I’m whipping up a treat for them whenever I can. Little joys of life, after all.

A has suddenly taken a fancy to growing a ‘lockdown beard’ and looks like Amitabh Bachchan without the groomed French version. Angel vehemently disapproves of it and refuses to go near him without making a face. Their brilliant chemistry makes me miss Dad on several occasions and I end up calling him multiple times through the day. The willingly henpecked father, he enjoys dancing on her tunes and she sure makes him break a sweat while at it.

A Jr reminds me twice a day that he’s already taller than me. He sifts through my books often and asks for suggestions. I cringed inward when he picked up Fifty Shades of Grey and had a headpalm moment when he held 1984 in his hands. He’s just eleven after all and doesn’t need this exposure yet. Shall I put a lock on my bookcase, I wonder.

The darkest hour is just before dawn and I believe that we’ve seen the worst, or pray and hope so. Nature has proven yet again that we’re mere pawns in its bigger scheme of things. Let us embrace this inevitable change and move ahead, smarter. Love, compassion and respect for each other matters more than anything else. Humanity means just that, doesn’t it?