I have always been accused of, and justifiably so of being a ‘serial procrastinator’ at tasks and things that I am really not interested in. I guess a combination of being an ‘only child’ and my father’s behavior bordering on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder especially when it came to things like cleanliness around the house, maintenance of clothes, books, etc meant that when I was younger I used to get away by putting off domestic chores which were assigned to me, as my father would get around to doing them himself anyway. Not that this technique came devoid of all the scolding and nasty jibes from him, but then I could take them any day when compared to actually having to do these tasks myself.
While the first two and a half decades of my life went by peacefully without this particularly annoying habit of mine causing too much trouble, things really came to the fore when I went to B School and consequently a hostel for the first time. Here I was responsible for all my own possessions and activities and had to take care of even mundane activities such as paying my mobile bills on time, keeping my formal clothes clean and ready for the next presentation in class and such like. While these two years managed to give me a strong dose of all the ill effects of my procrastinative nature (is that even a term?), it was only after I got married that it hit me like a ton of bricks.
There we were, my wife and me, in a new city, having to set up a home all by ourselves, albeit with the help of an uncle of mine. This meant that I had no choice but to roll up my sleeves, get my hands dirty and start taking on more and more of the so called ‘domestic activities’ myself. The fact that neither of us could speak the local language of the city also meant that my wife couldn’t do as much outside the house in terms of even basic stuff like buying vegetables etc without my assistance (I knew ‘pidgin’ of the local tongue, using which we barely managed). Those first three years of marriage completely changed my attitude towards running a household.
The following three years in yet another new city with the addition of my daughter to the brood meant that procrastination had to take a back seat in my life and I more than enthusiastically jumped into the fray of being completely domesticated. This was a period when almost all my hobbies took a backseat and I was more or less engaged throughout the day at office or busy performing domestic chores which were essential to keep the household running. And at this point in time I thought that I had more or less rid myself of the demon of procrastination.
But then as good villains go, the dirty demon has reappeared in my life over the past year and a half after I have moved back to Bangalore and started staying with my parents. My father and his mild OCD ensures that most household tasks are taken care of without my intervention, and this has lulled me into a false sense of security as far as they are concerned. However, more often than not, I tend to miss out on some of these things and that is when all hell breaks loose, in the form of my wife taking me to task.
Given my propensity to immerse myself with office related work or a combination of reading and blogging during all the time I am at home, means that I provide more than enough fodder for her to take me to the cleaners, figuratively speaking of course, every now and then. In fact, this post itself comes right on the back of an especially strong outburst from her. She had traveled out of town for around ten days and when she came back, found the house to be reasonably messy and things completely out of place. And the outburst from her at that point in time made me realize that yet again I am plagued by the old friend of mine, procrastination who seems to have quietly crept his way back into my life yet again.
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This post has been written for Project 365: A post a day where the intention is to write at least one post a day based on the prompts provided. Today’s post was to talk about the harshest, most difficult to hear, but accurate criticism that I have ever received. And this post was an attempt to highlight how I continue to procrastinate on essential everyday tasks and chores which don’t interest me too much.
