I came in late to work today as I waited for my daughter to come home from school. She was to leave today with her father for Kashipur. Her father and I live separately and she has to travel to and fro to be able to spend time with both of us. Not a very convenient or pleasant arrangement but that is what it is.
Also an old friend, Sangeeta Basu (one of the very first woman I met who lived alone, smoked constantly and paid her own rent and bills and was ok about it, it was awesome) was to come over to meet me. So we had lunch together and Amma ( my oldest maid and kind of live-in partner) served us food. Amma has stopped being disturbed with the kind of people visiting our house as me and my daughter are ourselves quite insane. So she is ok with the smoke, the endless cups of tea, the constant ringing of the mobile, the lack of luxuries in our house. And she has become a lifeline, although more often than not her dependence on the male fraternity in her family and/or her ignorance irritates both of us. But we are also learning to live with it as she is learning to understand us and our way of life. But despite her lack of knowledge, she has made a very astute observation that my daughter should never do business. She should pick up a safe job with a safe salary. I guess that defines my achievement so far. No one is impressed.
My mobile has conked off again. This is the nth time that this has happened. Probably the speakers have stopped working. I cannot hear anything. I have been planning to get a new one but planning is what I am good at. Everytime the money comes, it goes to run the office and every month there is some unscheduled event like a hard disk crashing or a system suddenly becomes slow making it clear that its RAM needs to be increased. And there goes the new mobile. After all it is only for communication. Ho Jayega, kaise bhi.
And if I go to the repair shop for the umpteenth time, I know what the guy will say, madam isko badal lijiye. Zaroor isme paani chala gaya hai. And in my heart I know it is true, for even when I am taking a bath, the phone will ring and Amma will promptly hand it over to me as that is what I do most mornings, take and make calls.
Our accountant does not know how to work in TALLY and therefore we are looking for someone to convert the data from Excel to Tally. What a requirement of skillset. And the accountant refers to me as ‘madamji’. It really sounds like ‘behenji’. I mean how can one mix english and hindi like that? Its very irritating.
No real work got done today. Just a couple of mails, here and there.And a few calls. And the hisaab kitaab. That is always the highlight of the day. And the 30th of the month is approaching fast. very fast. And I have no safety net. At all. Salaries, rent, electricity, bank loan instalment and the list is endless. It is like sitting in a speeding car with no brakes. One never knows when the crash will occur or where.
This is as good as it gets.
