Simplifying The Daily Existence

Even as I write this, am glancing at the time, it is almost 5.30 pm here and my work for the day is far from over. Ever since the WFH / work-from-home schedule started, I have been unable to sign off all of the tasks by the evening. At office I was perhaps a lot more adept at time management. Still, I feel, I am more available throughout the day, more keen on working in tandem with the marketing teams because I conserve a lot more energy. The shortest breathers, like a 10-minute tickling session with my baby or changing her diapers, freshens the mind.

Ready to adapt: this couple didn't seek the most comfortable environment for raising a family. They were ready to use whatever little space was available. And this plot of nesting land, too did came with plenty of distractions and lots of intrusions. However, their family has settled in rather well. They ensured picking a spot that provided comprehensive coverage against the sun and rain. What seems like a combination of living room and bedroom, their one-room accommodation comes sans any pretensions. They think that the iron pipe in the background is their idea of home decor, and the ugly remains of a shoddy cement job, once done, represent the landscaping. Overall, if this were a home-to-rent deal, nobody would have bought it. But like true borrowers, this couple overlooked all the possibly not-so-great things and chose to set up their nesting headquarters amid the ugliness.

PHOTOS BY KARI MASON

This was today in Google News' morning edition of the headlines - New York, which is quickly becoming the epicenter for the Corona tragedy, has had to shut down nearly all of its restaurant businesses, but what is more surprising is that this is happening across the U.S., and job loss emanating from this trend is massive. Closer to home, somewhat similar things are happening. While ordering in the food remains an option, it seems that more and more permanent closures are underway. While a temporary halt in the daily trading does not mean the end of the lifecycle for a business, just like the automobile sector, permanent closures mean permanent job losses - this is what is worrying me. These are jobs that can be saved. This is at least what I think, for overseas and for the shrinking food business marketplace in India. Just think of this - with the pandemic scare, all food biz are required to follow a lot more hygiene and safety norms. In many places, there are licensing and food inspection regulations. 

However, this is not the standard practice across the food serving industry, at least not in India, where the best pub might have a couple of cockroaches waiting to surprise you under the table. This is perhaps a good time as any to make this benchmark common; whether you are a five-star hotel or a roadside Dhaba, you will need to comply with more-than-average food hygiene standards. Obviously, the business owners are not going to be very upbeat about this, but then, the option is still a lot better than closing shutters. Further, more regulations can be put into place for food ordering, packaging, and delivery, at least until this phase blows over.

This means that each restaurant out there will need to upgrade to better food packaging standards and create cleaner cooking ecosystems that are doable with so many advances in food packaging/serving/preservation mediums. Yes, the conventional dining-out experiences are dead for some time, but if people really want to do it, and if they work with the local governments, there might still be a way to deliver a fine evening wining & dining experience at the doorstep - this might create more employment rather than firing the restaurant staff. If you compare this with the current trend of a restaurant business saying that we are closing out forever, this is worth a try at least - let us not kill the jobs that can be saved!

I cannot step out to visit a nursery and select the best possible replacements for plants that were laid to waste by the winter of 2019. Just like most things in life right now, gardening too has taken a new form, something very different from the conveniences of composting at will, adding granular coco peat in heaps, and rotating the planters every time something minuscule seems wrong with the arrangement. Corona is to blame for sure, but then, in some way, this is also making me realize the worth of making the best of what Life is offering right now, the best we can afford and accommodate, given the current pandemic. I have changed my approach, not letting any aging planters go to waste. I am trying to repurpose and recycle every bit of gardening supply I have.

 

The idea is simple - I cannot wait for things to get normal and allow the balcony gardening spread to take a more severe beating. As a result, the amount of aloe vera growing across my 4 balconies has increased exponentially. This is one plant you can trust when the going gets tough. Transplanting aloe and growing it in make-shift planters, too, is easy. For the first time in my 5 years of gardening, I have some degree of respect for the money plant. Until recently, I would frown upon it as an easy plant, an un-special plant, a bit too generic plant, and a lot more not-so-emphatic opinions.

Now, it seems like this is the plant to fill up planters that were getting a regal treatment until the pandemic broke out. Just like the aloe, the money plant is easy to care for and transplant. It can easily survive the high-shadow areas in the balconies. Just regular watering seems like the constant demand, and watering, using my arsenal of sprayers, is something I genuinely like doing, so this is not much of a chore for me. Now, the last entry in this list of Corona-restricted household gardening efforts is the snake plant. I have the smaller, stout variety that is very versatile and undemanding - nothing like the women I had dated during my late 20s and early 30s...an easy-breezy plant that needs little caring and basic handling.