Multitasking she is

Anandchitra · Jan 23, 2008

She was an old maid who lived opposite my house. She also did our household chores like washing clothes and cleaning the house, vessels etc. Her day used to start at 4 a.m. My grandmother used to tell me she could hear her rolling her pots around and getting ready to take bath before which she used to sweep the front of her house and spray cowdung and water mixture by hand. Her small house bordered the road so she had enough light from the street. By 5 a.m. she would have opened her small shed by the side of her house and started making hot idlis and sambhar. By then she would be getting her steady stream of regular customers. This would go on until 8 or so. By then she would start winding up her idli stall and closeup shop. Then she would start making the rounds of houses to do cleaning chores. She would only accept coffee. Her tall thin frame would be bent over by the weight of her work and her face would have so many wrinkles it was difficult to tell her age. She would finish her round and go back to her house to start the lunch stall. She would then get very busy. She had to cook and serve customers (who mainly sat around her or on small benches) and she would have to fetch water and collect the money and continue cooking and serving. All a one woman job. Enough said about the clean up which was a very big job in itself. Meanwhile her evenings were spent getting vegetables, collecting water in all her pots and more cleaning. She even managed a trip to our nearby temple. And as night came in we could hear her move stuff around in the house and in the back where she had an asbestos sheet shed. She would then wind up for the day to get ready for her next dawn. That was a day in the life of Lakshmi. She was definetly multitasking, a word i was not familiar with back then. Looking back it seems to me our women have forever been multitasking.
Though I am not in her league I still have to do more than one task. When I would be busy cooking our evening meal, with atleast 2 pots simmering at the same time, if dh want screwdriver who do you think he would turn to?? And then the ruler, the tape, the screws, the torchlight and above all "come and hold this up"..line.. Have to drop everything as is to run.. Or the morning rush as where is my sock? or where is my lunch bag? ..
Maybe multi tasking is just a new name for what we women have and still are doing.. What do you think?

sunkan · Jan 23, 2008

very true,
these are the active years and let me tell you woman are very active with DH around,
otherwise they loose the interest to cook or keep in shape or the house nothing is of great interest after that,
so they should understand the importance of briskness that the body has without being provoked to be so.

the demands are many in these active years, we as woman would love to do so many things at the same time we want everything in its place.

even now priya says, what happened to you mom? where is that personality who used to demand all in its place and so on, so when we are the queens we love everything in its place and get things done much better than depending on others to get this done.

like the cut flowers i love them once a week, but now only when the mood is there, and many other small little things..nice write up and hats off to lakshmi, wish i had that energy now, yes i am getting a lot greedy i must say..sunkan

Anandchitra · Jan 23, 2008

I am not going to believe most of what you say dear Sundari..pl. forgive me for that..You are among the active ladies i know..you post in so many different forums on so many varied topics..u also blog on juicy topics..and have a family to lend ear too..so thats why i have to disagree..But you are so right about the dh part.. When my husband has to travel to china and i drop him off at the airport, a huge part of me leaves with him..its so difficult to explain i can see a part of going away too..then till he comes back i have to survive so will be hanging in there..keep blogin you multi tasking woman !!!!!

Jananikrithsan · Jan 23, 2008

Dear AC,
There you are again with a great blog!!! Hats off to Lakshmi.
While we with all the facilites cannot stay in shape they do it effortlessly, that is one thing I admire about these women, though they are a struggling lot they do so much with ease. Iam like you AC, day starts very early and sometimes Iam dead on my feet before evening. Having two young children, life is always moving in the fast lane.Enjoying it very much!!!

PushpavalliSrinivasan · Jan 23, 2008

Dear AC,
It is accepted even by one of the management magnate in Vijay TV "Neeya Naana" programme that women are outstanding in mutitasking compared to men. I believe it is an inborn quality of women.
Love.
PS

Shanvy · Jan 23, 2008

AC,

Women have an inbuilt, inherent quality of multitasking.. that is why more and more women are being accepted for hr and management positions...I never gave much thought to it...but sitting and analyzing...i am also one..though now we have better technology to help us along......

Vysan · Jan 23, 2008

Dear AC,

Great Blog....

Nowadays, I get up early in the morning, I myself switch on the geaser, do self cooking, cleaning the house, washing the clothes, etc. etc. Necessacity is the mother of all innovations.... It is not women or men... even you can see, teenage kids doing part time jobs for their studies and all...

In this case, this lady has to do that for her survival... On the contrary, if she was given the choice not to do that work, but her food and day to day requirements are taken care.... then will she be doing the multi task....

The same goes to your DH... or for that matter any person... why do they ask for help.... because they know somebody is there to help... If nobody is there then they will be doing on their own....

Multi tasking has come into the corporate world why?????? Not because to improve the efficiency... It is a indirect way of giving a pep talk to people and reduce the cost..... When I was working in India.... One fine day, my Dept was cut down from 12 person to 5 person over night.... With the concept of multi tasking etc etc.... But at the end of the day we compromise on lot of things....

Being a Ashtavadhani is great.... But multi tasking???????

Disclaimer: - Sorry.... This is my absolute personal opinion / views / experience.... This is not to hurt anybody or to demean their capabilities....

vijeta · Jan 23, 2008

dear ac,
now a days woman are built their own. they can do multitasking.eg.office going ladies, they manage themselves, and her husband and childrendand inlaws. this is also a multitasking.
i am a house wife. i wake up at 7.ooam.and i am going to bed at 12.oopm. full day i am busy with my schdule. all ladies are best in their own ways. but i cant say i will be dothe same thing in my old age. like lakshmi. hats off to lakshmi. nice blog ac.

Anandchitra · Jan 23, 2008

While we with all the facilites cannot stay in shape they do it effortlessly, that is one thing I admire about these women..these words by you dear Janani love it..You said right dear.. They still do so to and with 2 small children I can imagine..

srivatsa · Jan 23, 2008

Nice blog. I am a working women and feel stressed out at the end of the day.This is because work at home and office is a very difficult thing to manage when u literally do not get help from your better half. Evern i love doing everything for him and still sometimes lose temper as my body stops the mind saying enough, i cannot do it anymore for the day.

Regards
Sri