Enjoying some solitude

When the kids are around, I'm always groaning about how I have absolutely no time. I have a loooong list of things I could do if only I didn't have the kids behind me all the time.

Then my wish finally comes true...woohoo!!

And now there is unlimited time. Gloriously large chunks of it, left over even after I've gone to work and come back home. I wake up really late by my standards (7.30 am) and by 8.30 am I am bathed, breakfasted and ready for work. Heck, I've even read the newspaper page by page. The last time that happened was 7 years ago!

Hmmm....so...like I said, I have a lot of time. Too much of it, come to think of it.

What do I do with all that time?

Gosh, I'm wasting so much time!!!

Quick quick where's that list of stuff I wamted to do?

Ok, ok, no need to panic. The list is right here.

#1 - Meet friends for coffee. Great. Sounds like fun. Except that most friends have taken off on holiday during the winter break. The ones that are in town aren't picking up the phone. Losers.

#2 - Watch TV and movies without interruptions. Alright. This should be good. Wait. There's nothing on TV. Not a single thing worth watching. Also, I'm out of DVDs. Damn.

#3 - Go on a heritage walk and explore Delhi. What? In this cold miserable foggy weather? Are you crazy?

#4 - Organize closets, throw out junk, attack the kid's clutter-filled room. Tomorrow...I'll get this done tomorrow...

#5 - Roam around in the grocery store in peace, no need to rush home, check out all the new products. Why is this on the list - I thought this list was about doing fun stuff!!!

#6 - Call old friends, have long chats. Realize I have no old friends and the ones I have are on holiday. Boo hoo.
# 7 - Go shopping. Delhi has fun stuff happening all the time. Nah - It's just no fun to do this alone. Even if half of the roads were not blocked and the metro shut down.

Lest you think my life was the absolute pits, let me say it wasn't all that bad :(

• I got a lot of time to catch up on my reading. I breezed through a good chunk of the Ramayana Series by Ashok Banker (review here), downloaded a few books on Kindle and generally did what I love doing best - read multiple books simultaneously :)
• I had a lot of blogposts pending and completed all of those.
• I met a friend at her place for some yummy dinner and we managed to have a nice long adult conversation with no interruptions.
• My maid was very happy since she had hardly any work around the house and a happy maid makes for a happy employer :)
• I was energetic enough to stay up till 11 pm (!) all days and could afford to laze around in bed until (gasp!) 8 am on the weekend. The pinnacle of luxury if you ask me.

It did take me some time to get used to the silence. I took me a couple of meals to slow down and not bolt down my food like I usually do. It also took a while to stop doing everything at express speed. It was a revelation that 24 hours in a day is quite a lot and when the kids are not around, it is more than ample for anything that you have to do! I also did not miss the constant refeering and breaking up of fights that are such an integral part of our home scene nowadays. 

It was a win-win situation for the kids as well. Chennai is always a magnet for them and being there with the whole extended family and cousins, at a time when the weather there is at it's nicest, was always going to make for a great vacation. As for S, he got to meet the whole clan at one shot and also bask in the glorified status of a single dad (Your wife is sooo lucky! You are such a great dad! Imagine managing the kids all by yourself!). Whatever - I'm willing to hand it to him as long as I get my free time every now and then :)

So the (expected) verdict is - a short break like this every now and then is really nice. Don't raise your expectations, don't expect to accomplish anything like a full month's work of pending items during a few days, just chill, watch movies, go for long walks, catch up with friends (but give them a heads-up in advance lets they all disappear like mine did!) and enjoy the silence :))