A Fine Cup Of Tea? - Musings In The Early Morning

So many weeks have gone by, each day starts with a heartfelt sincere prayer that normalcy returns, a cure, a tablet, a local medical trick, or a prayer works.

In the early days, I am sure it would have been a bizarre experience to many ladies at home to suddenly find all of them at home all the time! kids, hubby, in-laws and with an exception, of course. The missing maids. One does realize that the famous early morning rush has somehow slowed down to a time lapsed event. Everything now is a big slow yawn..You get up now with the chirping of the birds. Literally. I am no poet! I can hear such a nice sing song chirp all over our apartment complex.

Somewhere around week two - I thought idly that I can as well drink my tea in one of the bronze lined, flowery cups I keep aside for guests. Pursing my lips thoughtfully, I tell myself I earned that darned cup myself, I have a right to it as well. In any case, the guests won't notice a cup missing, in case I break it while using it regularly. You may wonder why I would have to be thoughtful about it.. well! I was thinking in parallel, how to extract that cup from the crockery cabinet. Lots of care has to go in pulling it out - or like the great Humpty or Dumpty? all my cups will crash falling down! Hence the thoughtful frown on my face, if anyone was up and around to notice it.

And so a couple of days went by, having a nice cup of tea in my flowery cup. No one noticed it. Until one day, my hubby made a cup of tea and served it with panache. But in my old frumpy cup. The fireworks started. My daughter peeked out of her room to check. Her eyes opened wide and ears perked up - it took awhile for her to figure out that a storm was brewing over a cup? or over the tea? As I mentioned earlier, life is slow and every single bit of conversation stretches. With exams in abeyance, she, like most other kids are confused and stressed whether they should go back to insta or start studying. So, this discussion on the cup or the tea seemed a good distraction for her. Tough luck for her, she did not get the nuance of the conversation. It is the cup, I said, that matters. Not the tea. The hubby said, he made the perfect tea - even though the strainer was dirty. More on that, some other time. I pointed to them both - that the cup was the old one. They both stared at it with some dread.. not knowing where this was leading to.

I strode to the kitchen, opened a cabinet and showed 5 cups neatly arranged. All different sizes, color and shapes. They nodded peacefully, and wondered politely if it is for each day. The tea had done its job by now, and I was back to my cheerful self.

As I was poking around my fridge and kitchen, I found a pack of ginger powder and genuine Sri lankan Cinnamon powder. Ah.. I remembered that stroll in one of the organic stores, shopping lazily but reminding yourself not to buy anything expensive. But the cinnamon and ginger powder was too hard to resist. And so, I mused, let's try cinnamon tea, and maybe add a bit of ginger as well. Sugar? Nope. let's add in some of that organic jaggery I bought in another sojourn.. The tea did taste good and a bit cinnamonny? Is there a word like that? And so, life in the morning, atleast to me, has come down to a peaceful trundle.

Compare this to same time, maybe a few months back. Groggy eyed, you wake up - check your emails, WA, rush to open the door before the maids ring the bell and wake everyone up. Boil water for drinking, get that lemon squeezer out, wash the lemons, sneak out some of that boiling water for that cup of tea - pour lemon water in a jug for the family. It is good for the liver, you think - they better drink it. Come back to the kitchen, boil milk, make tea - sip the tea while making way to the room and try getting ready, pack your purse, stuff your meds, headphones, charger - give the cook quick instructions on what to cook - which translates to cook whatever is available. dont ask! Wake up the girl to get ready. You get ready and take a bite of half cooked food and rush out to take the cab to the office. All the while, talking over the phone, giving instructions to family - to ensure they keep their keys with themselves, chargers in their bags before they leave.

Weighing well over the prescribed healthy mark, it is not easy to walk the distance to the office block - so you ended up entering the office a bit breathless. As you settle down to work, time files and the friendly colleague calls you over. You guessed it - tea time! The cup? a much washed, used steel cup. No frills and flowers here.

Lets hope its not time to bid adios to this cuppa as yet...