Based on a True Story (3)

***Queen of my house****

My friends have always maintained that I am too pampered. Not doing household work doesn't make one pampered I have tried reasoning. But overcome by envy, they have refused to see sense. So when I got an opportunity to redeem myself, I decided to plunge head first. I had to after all, show that I am not as pampered as I am made out to be.

My friends came over for a sleepover this weekend.Going out for a late night walk, Watching Twilight and gossiping to our heart's content were all a part of the agenda. Doing household work wasn't. But as fate would have it, my mom had to go out for some work. No harm done. We still had the bai who would come in and finish all the cleaning and swabbing I was told. But as soon as mom left, Manisha (our bai) calls to tell me that she cant come in to work as her husband has hurt himself in a drunken fight.

So what are you planning to do now? Priya asked me

Go watch Whats your rashee..thatz the plan remember? I answered

My answer was greeted by 3 pairs of accusing eyes.

And who will do all the household work?

Umm..I guess mom will. Once she is back.

More silence and loads of glaring.

Umm..OK. What do you guys wanna do about it then?

We? We arent going to do anything. You will have to do the cleaning, the sweeping and the washing Miss Pampered.

Haah Big deal. I can do it in no time. We can go for the movie after that.

(Cleaning, sweeping and washing..I have seen Manisha do it a million times..how difficult can it be)

Inspite of their initial nakras, my friends decided to help me with the work. They say that I am pampered and spoilt but that doesn't stop them from pampering me and spoiling me rotten.

One took the sweeping, the other took the cleaning and I was given the task of washing clothes.

I mean how difficult is it? Put the clothes in the machine, put in the powder and start the machine. Done dana done.

Anyhoo, while I finished loading the machine, I couldnt find the washing powder. How could I, when I had never checked to see where the powder was kept. After searching high and low, I finally found it hiding behind the kitchen sink. Heaving a sigh of relief, I generously poured 3 spoons of powder into the machine, set the timer and bounded off..trying to find something else to do.

While the clothes took care of themselves, I decided to cook food. I mean how difficult is it to make roti and sabzi. I have seen my mom do it a million times.

My friends had by then decided to test my round roti making skills and me delegated the task of making the dough and the rotis. Making the dough was simple..making the rotis wasnt. My rotis were of all shapes and sizes other than round. After several attempts I got a brain wave. All my rotis after that were perfectly round. How did I manage that? Simple. Roll out the dough in any shape you want and then use a sharp edged plate to cut the rotis into perfect circles. Hoon na main genius types!

Rotis and sabzi done, I decided to turn my attention to the clothes that had by now been washed clean by the washing machine.But yeah kya? The clothes didn't feel clean and smelled weird too. Must be the new powder I thought. I put up the clothes for drying and glanced at my friends. Whoz pampered now?

My mom came home to a clean house and a gleaming daughter.

Epilogue: My mom later revealed that the clothes smelled weird because I had used washing powder meant for washing utensils. Some clothes had to be rewashed and some had to be thrown away.

My friend Rose ended up with a upset stomach and had to spend the next 2 days off work.

Manisha had to spend twice as much time as she usually takes to wash utensils as she was burdened with the additional task of scrapping off the burnt remnants of the aloo sabzi.

My mom has asked me never ever to help her again. :-)

Read True story (1) here

Read True Story (2) here