Art of Resting

Nourishment for the body and mind.

- Mangala R

A sharp exclamation from the bedroom startled me as I was penning my thoughts. “It’s actually seven!” shouted my spouse. I put my iPad down and went to pacify him. “It’s okay. You have got an hour-and-a-half before you leave for work.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up!” he reproached angrily as he rushed to the bathroom. My better half was, of course, one of those IT professionals who, having worked hard on his laptop till one in the morning, was now cursing everything and everybody on his way. “Phew!” I plonked on the sofa to catch my breath as my whirlpool husband left. Thankfully, all the noise hadn't woken up my six-month-old baby. I could get another half an hour of peace before the maid arrived. I closed my eyes and laid back on the sofa. But soon my mobile started vibrating. It was my sister, who worked in an MNC. “She goes only in the afternoon, so I guess she wants to chat for a while,” I thought as I picked up her call.

“Hi Suja!” I voiced lazily.

“I just rang to say... hi!” my sibling voiced back. “I have to go to my yoga class five minutes from now, then I've got to fetch vegetables and then... oh, lots of work, ya... okay bye!” “What...” I began, only to realise that I was talking to the dial tone.

Two weeks later, we arrived at the Bengaluru airport to visit relatives. We caught a cab and started the long and tedious journey to our relative's house. After a while, the cab driver suddenly stopped the cab near the toll gate. He excused himself and drenched his face with water beside the road before getting back into the cab. He explained that he hadn't slept last night as he had to drive a client overnight to a far-off suburban place and, hence, was finding it difficult to stay awake at the wheel. My spouse and I exchanged looks and straightened our backs to keep a sharp vigil on him till we reached our destination.