Adventures of a Housewife

Looking at the pile of dishes dumped in the kitchen basin, dirty laundry scattered all over the dry balcony and unkempt floor of the entire house, Madhu wondered when will she get a maid for herself.

"What's taking so long for the tea?", Vikrant asked from another room.

"Thinking how to unclutter all the mess is taking so long. Tea is on its way", Madhu handed the cup of tea and biscuits to her son Sunny and asked him to give it to his father.

It was a sunday, the day Madhu hated the most.

Unlike other stay-at-home ladies, who patiently waited for this day, so that they could spend some time with their husbands, Madhu was happier on her own.

Not that Vikrant was not a good person, it was Madhu who had found her own ways of making herself happier.

Numerous altercations and terrible fights between the couple had made Madhu this way.

"Listen, can we please keep a maid? Only for the dishes and the laundry. It gets really difficult dealing with the household tasks, looking after Sunny and then.." Madhu started to tell but Vikrant cut her saying, " Madhu, my dear, thank God you don't work in office. There one has to multitask and can't even think of delegating some of his tasks to others. If you were a working professional, then keeping a maid would have been justified. But you are at home only for the full day, still it is difficult to manage?"

Madhu wanted to burst out on Vikrant. Countless times had Vikrant used the same statement of Madhu being at home all day, in any given situation.

But Madhu kept quiet as she knew uttering another sentence in her defense would only lead to another argument.

She went back to the kitchen, and started to recall many instances where her plea was dismissed. She was starting to feel frustrated and wanted to yell at Vikrant. But as she was about to get drenched in the sorrows of rejection, the incomplete adventure that she had just kicked off, flashed in her mind. With childlike glee, she continued to complete cooking, other household chores and waited for Monday desperately.

*****

It was the Monday morning.

Madhu woke up early, cleaned the house, offered puja, cooked and packed Sunny's and Vikrant's tiffin.

She then made tea for the boys and woke them up.

As soon as both of them left. Madhu could not stop her excitement.

With her husband's old smartphone and Sunny's selfie stick, she set up her video recording position.

She applied the only shade of lipstick she had and made sure her hair was well set.

Before she could start her first-ever video recording, she made sure she had arranged all ingredients properly over the kitchen platform. She had meticulously drafted her script and had set it up in front of her in such a way that it would not be seen to the audience.

Silently she offered a prayer and with high hopes, she started her recording.

She recorded how to cook dum aloo that day. Her sense of achievement was not yet at its peak. She knew what she had to do next.

Madhu uploaded the video on her YouTube channel and was exhilarated once it was live. She had named it " Madhu: the home chef"

She shared the link to everyone in her contact except one. That was Vikrant.

That evening, after Vikrant returned home, Madhu very happily served the dum aloo to him for dinner.

Madhu could not move an inch as she was afraid to miss out on Vikrant's comment.

'Maybe he is too tired', though Madhu after Vikrant left the dining table without saying a word.

" Mom, please don't scold me, I could not eat the bhindi you gave in lunch." Sunny handed over his half-eaten tiffin to Madhu.

"Oh dear, but why?" Madhu questioned Sunny.

"It was not tasty", said Sunny.

"Hey, Madhu, why dont you learn new recipes from YouTube. My colleague Sheila said there are so many youtubers who make amazing dishes online. You can learn from them." Vikrant said by adding to Madhu's disappointments.

As Madhu was making the bed ready for that night, she told herself, what she has started she will continue. She started to think of the next recipe that she will upload.

*****

Days passed by and months passed another.

Madhu kept uploading videos every day and never missed a day in pursuing her endeavor.

She had stopped expecting validation, she ignored all the foul comments, she was only focused on what made her happy.

She learnt new video enhancing tricks, she learnt how to enhance traffic, she started to do a collaboration with other youtubers and finally the day arrived she even managed to get paid.

Gradually, her followers were beyond her dream but somehow she was only happy in doing the videos. Her achievements were just add ons.

One night, Vikrant was on phone. He was inviting over few of his colleagues for dinner. Madhu was checking Sunny's homework when Vikrant walked up to her and said, " Madhu, since you have learnt cooking so well now, that my colleagues wanted you to make biryani for them. So I insisted them to come over for dinner. I am sure you will have no plans as all you do is stay at home so didn't ask you. Hope that is okay"

"Yes, that's fine. I also have something to tell you."

Madhu replied, " from tomorrow onward I have asked a maid to come. She will do the dishes and basic cleaning"

" Okay, you wanted one from ages anyway. Here take this 1000 rupees, hope this suffices her charges."

Vikrant said while holding two 500 hundred notes.

"You can keep it, I will pay her", Madhu said.

"Hahahaha you housewives are one big finance manager. You must have saved from a long time for this." Vikrant jokingly said and went to sleep.

Madhu glanced at the mirror right in front of her and smiled back at the Madhu version 2.0.

*****

"Welcome, Sheila and Arnab! Such a pleasure to have you over" Vikrant welcomed his colleagues the next night.

" Pleasure is all ours. But it must have caused so much pain to bhabi." Said Arnab.

"Oh yes, where is she, please call her. I want to meet her." Sheila said.

Before Vikrant could call Madhu, Madhu entered the living room, smiling bright in her new dress and holding the tray with water and snacks "I am right here."

"Oh my God! You are Madhu: the home chef!" Sheila was thrilled and continued, " haven't you done a collaboration with Sanjeev Kapoor recently!? I am such a huge fan of yours. May I please give you a hug. You are a life savior for so many like us who can't cook. Vikrant why didn't you tell me that your wife is a celebrity!"

"Well, Vikrant is too modest to acknowledge that. He still feels I am nothing more than a stay at home wife. And yes I have just done a collaboration with Sanjeev Kapoor and will soon launch my own website. But first thing first, would you guys like tea or coffee?" Madhu uttered all of this in flawless confidence leaving everyone in the room awestruck except for one - Vikrant.

Madhu knew what he was feeling inside. But she was already planning her next adventures while serving the guests that night.

*****