Enjoyment,Happiness and Time that is wasted.

                    My daughter has to attend to her classes commencing from 9 am and I,too, have to be in my office at around 9.30. Therefore,with the dawn of the day, I and my daughter compete with one another in one's own way for being ready to leave home. But the noticeable difference for me is that she leaves her bed quite late to be ready earlier while I wake up earlier to "become" ready often late. Perhaps I fritter away time by way of roaming inside my three BHK aimlessly or looking at the newspaper which is a great time consuming avocation for me to find out therein what happened where. Despite my repeated reminders she has not improved her habit of rising late as I have not improved my habit of wasting time by way of being indecisive on matters that matter for me. While both of us return tired we beat our tiredness in one's own way. While she speaks to her mummy of what happened today in her class/college etc. I only talk of trivialities of the day in office to my wife. Doing all her daily chores, my wife upon whom rests our entire happiness patiently hears those smattering arguments of our defence as if she were seated as a judge to hear our complaints. It is another matter that very often she passes her judgements often against me. Very soon the day comes to an end when I have to go to bed to rise early the next day to repeat what has already been stated . But this is only after dinner followed by taking pills with the help of which I have been trying to control(?) my sugar and blood pressure for over a decade. 

Unless it's a holiday the day passes the way described above. Even holiday is not very different for me save that I try my best to convert working days' office time into sleeping time for holiday.

      This clever endeavour of mine is successfully disturbed by my wife who opens her own bag of complaints accumulated during all these working days of the week. The chief being that why holiday is not for the homemaker. I shirk to be in the chair of the judge for understandable reasons. 

               She also has one major complaint that I pursue my own happiness at the cost of my daughter's study. This is either by sleeping or when awake; reading or eating-snacking or whatsapping etc.etc. That in no way helps my daughter in matters of her studies; her grudges are genuine.

              On all holidays I am duty bound to hear all her complaints in minute details as to how she got this work done or that task performed in my absence which, according to her, were otherwise in my accounts of duty & responsibilities which I failed to discharge.

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         This being a holiday today,I woke up in the evening to be asked by my daughter some open-ended questions.

She asked- what is enjoyment?

I said- It is being happy. She disapproved.

                 I couldn't answer to her satisfaction.

Then she replied- Papa! It is being conscious of being happy.

Again she asked- What is wasting of time?

I again fumbled. I thought she would say sleeping.

 But she replied- It is trying to impress others.

She further asked- What constitutes utilising time?

I told her to answer this according to her own understanding.

She replied- It is learning something new.

To this I tried to improve- sleeping may also be called utilisation of time.

Is it better utilisation than learning? She asked.

I told-Yes, perhaps; ah! certainly not.

    R.R.Prabhakar.

      11.12.2021.