33. A SNEAK PEEK INTO MY PERSONAL LIFE (YEAR 1976)

STRESS, SUCCESS AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN

The Highs and Lows of A Woman’s Journey in the Corporate World

CARE: This is Chapter 33 of my book Stress, Success and Everything In-Between. These are individual anecdotes but to understand the professional journey in totality, I would recommend reading the book right from Chapter 01 onwards.

“Trng…..Trng….Trng..…Trng…..” The piercing sound of the alarm clock shatters my peaceful morning slumber. With a deep sense of unhappiness, I stretch my arm to stop the persistent alarm. My mind begs for a few extra minutes of sleep, but the looming reality of the day ahead does not allow for any such luxury.

It is already 6 am. The water supply would stop at 6.30am. If I do not get up immediately, there will be no drinking water for the next twenty-four hours. The evening supply is invariably over before we return from the office. The thought of not having access to drinking water for the next twenty-four hours jolts me out of my sleepy haze.

I rub my eyes and reluctantly force myself out of bed. There is a list of things to be done on priority before I leave for the office at 8.30am. I turn on the tap in the bathroom and adjust the plastic pipe leading to the big water storage drum to fill up the water. Coming to the kitchen, I quickly light the gas stove to boil water for morning tea. Side by side, I place a large vessel under the tap and turn it on. All the drinking water bottles are empty and have to be filled up. The water on the burner has started boiling. My husband also wakes up and walks into the kitchen.

“Hey! I can see from here. No queue at the Mother Dairy! Will you bring milk? Meanwhile, I will prepare the tea.” There is urgency in my tone.

Fortunately, the Mother Dairy booth is just behind our flat and is visible from the kitchen window. Picking up the milk vessel with one hand and counting change from another, he goes out to fetch milk. 

I fill the water bottles, place them in the fridge, and pour tea into the mugs. As I put a cup of tea on the dining table, I hear water overflowing from the drum in the bathroom. I dart towards the bathroom to turn the tap off. 

He has now come back with milk and the newspaper. I pour the milk into a vessel and keep it on the gas burner for boiling. Sipping tea, I simultaneously start chopping vegetables. Veggies will take longer to cook as these have to be cooked in less oil lest the oil leaks and stains his briefcase.

I keep a few eggs for boiling. It is now time to knead dough for chapatis. The tea is getting cold, but making chapatis is more urgent. I roll dough and make six chapatis, three each. The vegetable is ready.

I deftly pack two lunch boxes and call out to my husband. “I am laying the breakfast on the table. Please stop reading the newspaper and wake up the baby. Give him milk. Meanwhile, I will take my bath and get ready.”

Five minutes later, I am out of the bathroom, only to find my husband holding our three-year-old son in his arms. "He appears to be having a high temperature. Where is the thermometer?" There is a worried expression on his face.

I quickly bring the thermometer to check the temperature, and my heart sinks as it reads 104.5 F. Panic sets in as we know we could not leave our child in the daycare centre in this condition.

“Oh no! What do we do now?”

“You will have to take leave,” hubby says.

“Not possible. You know very well that I cannot take leave without prior permission. I am the joint custodian of the cash and hold the strong room keys.”

“Give me the keys. I will hand them over to someone in your branch on my way to the office,” he suggests.

“It does not happen like this in the Bank. These are strong room keys. These cannot be given to just anybody. And there is no officer in my branch apart from me.” I was feeling absolutely helpless.

"I cannot take leave either. I have an urgent meeting with the Secretary today," my husband says helplessly.

"Is there any other option? Can you take half a day off? What time is the meeting?" I am trying to find a solution.

“It is at 3pm. That means I have to leave home by 2.30pm.” He replies, looking as worried as I do.

My mind was racing as I tried to come up with a solution.

"Okay. If everything goes well at the branch, I will try to leave the office by 3 pm after closing the Strong Room. But I may not be able to reach home before 3.30 pm. How do we fill up this gap of one hour?"

Tense and worried, we were unsure of what to do.

To seek help, I decided to ring up my uncle, who lives nearby. Hearing my desperate description of the situation, he suggests that they both will come home after lunch and take care of the child until one of us returns. We heave a sigh of relief. Later in the day, his meeting gets postponed, and hubby could take the day off.

That evening, tears rolled down my eyes out of sheer guilt and frustration, and I decided to resign. But my husband said, “Either of us can resign. I suggest I resign and you continue to work. I would love to be a house-husband. Anyway, we will see about it later. I have taken two days of casual leave and will look after the child. Come on, cook dinner now. I am famished.”

As I look back on that day, my heart is filled with gratitude for my husband, his unwavering support and the timely help offered by my uncle. Despite the recurring challenges we faced during our work life, we persevered and found a way to make it through. And although there were times when I felt like giving up, the reassuring words of my husband gave me the strength to carry on. Our journey may have been challenging, but it was filled with love, resilience, and unwavering determination to support each other. And as we continued to face new challenges every second day, I knew we would accept them with courage and mutual understanding.

Similar situations cropped up in my life many times in future. But life moved on, and I managed to work for over 38 years until superannuation.

(To be continued...)

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