Lakshmi Iyer's Blog, page 30
March 31, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: Schooling Unschooling
It is a day into week three of the five of us at home. This week also marks the start of formal online school for all three children. While I struggled the past two weeks, the knowledge that all of it was optional let me operate a little guilt-free. This week they started easy. About […]
March 27, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: Ambivalent
Today caps two full weeks of the entire family staying home. We are settling into a pattern of sorts. If last week felt overwhelming because I was trying to be a conscientious employee and a full-time homemaker, this week was better because I decided perfection is impossible. I let things slide. I told myself it […]
March 24, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: The Elephant In The Room
It is almost 6:00 pm. My mind is thinking about what to make for dinner. The IM on my work machine pings. The request is almost always polite, there is an illusion of choice. “I can do it,” I say. I want to be done with it as well. It is well past 7:00 pm […]
March 23, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: A New Normal
I wake up sans alarm. My varied routine now has me logging into work with coffee, catching up on emails, working out and then scrambling to put breakfast before the slew of work calls start at 8:30 am. Saathi works at a steady pace until the children are up and then take over trying to […]
March 21, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: Birthday Edition
Today was a day I had a lot planned for my twins. Ice cream cake, pizza, a sleepover with friends and possibly surprise gifts. Instead, we woke up to giggling girls, skipped breakfast, ate badam kathli, downed a simple kootu and rice for lunch, napped and cuddled as a family and spent the rest of […]
March 20, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: Struggling
Today marks the end of the first work week of quarantine. A week in which as working adults we were expected to put in full days, homeschool kids and keep the house running. The work part went okay because it fell to me to organize my time and do what is needed to keep things […]
March 18, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: Juggling
I log in with a coffee and croissant by my side. The email volume is low and I figure I might get the dosai and adai maavu done if the day was going to be light. I get up, soak a mixture of rice and dals in varying proportions and return to my seat. I […]
March 17, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: Exhausted!
It is not yet 8:30 pm. The exhaustion I feel is bone-deep. My day began around 5:30 am and it has been a whirl of activity. Working, cooking, cleaning, feeding, and sitting with decimal math for two kids at the fag end of a long day took everything out of me. The average course load […]
COVID19 Diaries: Exhausted!
It is not yet 8:30 pm. The exhaustion I feel is bone-deep. My day began around 5:30 am and it has been a whirl of activity. Working, cooking, cleaning, feeding, and sitting with decimal math for two kids at the fag end of a long day took everything out of me. The average course load […]
March 16, 2020
COVID-19 Diaries: The Beginning
I walk around the home at 5:30 am, raising blinds to be met with inky darkness, putting a pot of coffee and logging into work. This is not my usual routine. Nothing about today is normal. Late yesterday evening, I turned off all my alarms and reminders. The ones that wake me, the ones […]
