Homemaker

“Household work is a job for everyone living in a house, not only the work of a Homemaker, but it is a significant part of it.”

In the previous Page: Arguments, I realized how mistaken I was and decided to tell Amma about the business I am about to start and also convince her to tell Nanna. Before I tell Amma this, I have to tell you about Amma.

~~Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.~~

Page 3: Homemaker

Amma is a homemaker. She is very smart, organized, cautious, and a great decision-maker in our house. Amma always thinks 10 steps ahead; she is like a master of supervision. When she says something, it seems like the most foolish thing to say at first, but it always happens the way she said it would. I used to ignore her words at first, but now I follow her without questioning.

It always wasn’t like that.

Growing up, I always assumed Nanna is the only person in the house who works hard since my sister and I don’t do anything but play and watch TV, and I used to think Amma sometimes threw her works on Nanna. As Nanna goes out to work, he is also the one who brings provisions. Occasionally, He cooks, cleans the house, washes clothes; he is an all-rounder. So, I thought Amma is also lazy like us, and she leaves work for Nanna.

I always thought Nanna is great because of the work he does, but it took some time for me to realize that he is great because of the way he thinks.

When I quit my job and came back home, I was thinking of preparing for my business and also enjoying this leisure period since I spent all my time in textbooks and work till now. So, I planned to watch movies, anime, or series when I don’t have anything to do, but I saw Nanna doing chores. I didn’t like the fact that he is coming from work and doing extra work in the house while I sit and enjoy. I decided to do that work so he can relax for a bit.

It repeated from that day, and my work in the house increased. Before I knew it, I was sweeping the dust, drying clothes, doing dishes. At first, I was doing it so that Nanna could relax, but then seeing Amma relax instead made me feel like I was tricked. I thought Amma was putting her work on me now. I became furious and decided not to do any work in the house.

"Everyone says homemakers have no work, and their job is easy. I was no different."

The day I decided not to do any work, I think I wasn’t furious but jealous that Amma is the one enjoying, not me. Maybe I wanted her to ask me to do work, and then do it as a favor for her. I observed Amma that day, maybe because I was waiting for her to ask me that. She didn’t say a word, the one whom I thought was lazy like me is getting work done without anyone telling her to do it.

I saw her do the work one after another; she is cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, and dishes all at the same time. She looked like a goddess with multiple hands giving the boons to her devotees.

I was delusional to think that I am good, despite thinking about how to take care of my family in the future by unconsciously neglecting them in the present.

I think Nanna saw Amma do it before; no, I think he saw his mother do it and understood that they are not doing "their work" but doing "our work for us".

I assumed Nanna is doing Amma’s work, but in reality, he was doing his part of the work as a person living in the house. Seeing this, understanding it, realizing it, I instinctively did the work. I am not helping her; instead, I am just doing my part of the work in the house.

Next time I hear a person saying the job of a Homemaker is easy, then I am going to laugh at their stupidity for sure.

Written by

Arjun Sahasya

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Click here for previous pages:

|| Introduction | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 coming soon ||

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Author’s note: I’m sorry to divert from the plot; I thought of introducing ‘Amma’ within 350 words, but I went into a trance when I was writing it and completely forgot about the story while I started to talk about Amma. Hope you forgive me for that, and to cover my mistake, I am releasing this Page early.

Thank you.

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