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Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by meenasankaran, Apr 27, 2011.

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  1. Apr 27, 2011 #1
    meenasankaran

    meenasankaran Platinum IL'ite

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    One of these days, the inevitable may finally dawn on you that vegetating in front of a television is no guarantee for your happiness and health. Or you may just feel social one evening and get this friendly urge to stop by our house for a nice cup of coffee and snacks with a bit of lively, spirited conversation on the side. Whatever the reason might be, I urge you to please check the calendar first before you knock on our door. If ‘x’ marks the spot on Sunday, I suggest that you reconsider.

    Please don’t get me wrong. We love company and have been known to be spirited and lively on occasions. It is just that on a Sunday evening, you may find more cheer in a funeral home. As breakfast gives way to lunch and lunch gives way to snacks on Sundays (btw, the hands on my internal clock always read Breakfast, Lunch, Snack and Dinner as opposed to the usual 3, 6, 9 and 12 on a regular clock), we, the Sankarans, find ourselves transforming from deliriously happy to decidedly depressed and unlike Cinderella, we manage this without the aid of a chubby godmother and an orange pumpkin. If you ever hear us whimpering, you can bet your next meal (sorry, I don’t take any chances on my meals) that Monday is not too far away.

    I have come to call this strange phenomenon the ‘Smile-free Sunday’ syndrome. To us, Fridays are for fun, Saturdays are for snoozing and Sundays are for sadness. With my head held high, I proudly declare here that we beat moaning Myrtle fair and square in the battle of the Whimpering Wimps of the weekend.

    Past noon on any given Sunday, my children embrace unhappiness like it is their favorite grandmother. When the clock strikes one and the mouse goes down (Hickory Tickory Tock…helllooooo???), a magic spark goes off somewhere inside the deep, dark recesses of their memory and sets them off in a maddening frenzy around the house in search of homework assignments and projects that, they suddenly remember, were due the previous decade. Thoughts of the many forgotten quizzes, tests and project deadlines lined up for the upcoming week pop up just then to haunt my poor kids to profuse sweating if not premature aging. Beautiful dimples start to dissolve in a quagmire of nerves, fear and despair leading to wobbly lips and fresh tears. All through the evening, you can find them alternatively rubbing their stomachs and foreheads in an effort to dislodge that invisible ball of lead that seems to have not only pitched a tent but also applied for a social security number in there.

    Believe it or not, my children are convinced of a supreme cosmic conspiracy that deprives them of precious minutes on a Sunday by making all the clocks in our household tick faster than usual. What sounds like the regular rhythmic tick, tock, tick, tock to me somehow sounds like a super fast, furious bull tearing up a Rodeo field to my children. This is the same conspiracy that, according to them, sends the Sun sliding down the horizon in a hurry on that day. Of course, I know better than to dispute such comic (no typo here) conspiracies.

    Usually I am all for keeping the lines of communication open with children but Sundays are the sole exception. I never initiate conversations with my kids past noon on Sundays because they always mistake the slightest movement of my lips to be a special invitation to break down and cry their hearts out. Call me a terrible parent if you want but I am tired of getting my good clothes soaked every Sunday under these sad tears. So much so that I am seriously considering buying myself a special Sunday ki Sunday bib that reads ‘Monday is coming and the Mommy booth is now open for your tears’.

    At last we cross the twilight time zone that is between snacks and dinner on Sunday and the crescendo spirals up in a steady rhythm going from sniffling to sobbing to sulking and finally erupts into the inevitable resignation when our clock strikes Dinner. An eerie calm settles down on our home at this time. Trembling lips are bitten down, backbones are straightened, chins are jutted out and the inhabitants of the Sankaran land brace themselves to face whatever monster Monday has in store for them.

    As the dinner table is cleared, I take my cue to heave a sigh of relief and go in search of Erma Bombeck’s essays to learn how to smile again until the next smile-free Sunday.

    Do you still dare to knock on my door on a Sunday evening? Better yet, can I knock on yours?
     
    meenasankaran, Apr 27, 2011
    meenasankaran, Apr 27, 2011
    #1
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  2. Apr 27, 2011 #2
    VLR

    VLR Silver IL'ite

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    Meena

    :rotfl:rotfl


    Thank god I am not the only one who starts suffering from Monday blues from Sunday afternoon itself..:crazy

    your kids are right...Sunday afternoons are the shortest ..evenings still short and before you realize you are sitting at your desk on Monday morning :biglaugh
    Sunday is the most depressing day of the week.. much more than the dreaded Monday.

    :thumbsup a wonderful post..
     
    VLR, Apr 27, 2011
    VLR, Apr 27, 2011
    #2
  3. Apr 27, 2011 #3
    Sriniketan

    Sriniketan IL Hall of Fame

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    Very very true Meena...everything done at the last minute...going to the store to buy something needed for Monday...sometimes cook something for the Spanish class....it is better as you had said to have an apron printed...Silence is golden on Sundays..:idea:

    Really enjoyed your narration, as always!

    sriniketan
     
    Sriniketan, Apr 27, 2011
    Sriniketan, Apr 27, 2011
    #3
  4. Apr 27, 2011 #4
    soumya234

    soumya234 Platinum IL'ite

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    As always very well said!!It reminded me of my school days when I used to be like your kids.From Saturday till Sunday noon laze around and after lunch act like crazy, keep a sad face and given a chance yell at anyone around you for no mistake of theirs:biglaugh
     
    soumya234, Apr 27, 2011
    soumya234, Apr 27, 2011
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  5. Apr 27, 2011 #5
    satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Meena,

    One more gem from you. :rotfl:rotfl:rotfl. Sorry to be laughing at your miserable Sundays, but your narration is really hilarious.

    Meena, to each one his/her own, I would say. Till a year ago I belonged to this category. Sundays would be miserable with the thought of Monday morning. Thereafter the gloom would be taken over gradually by a very slow but definitely euphoria till the coming Friday. Friday mornings were the best. Come Friday evenings, there would be absolute cheer and joy unlimited. God would be in Heaven and all would be well with the world. Saturday mornings the euphoria would slowly start waning again with the realization that the weekend had started and hence by Murphy's law (or is it God's law? I never am quite sure) was bound to come to an end again.

    But times change, people change. Since the last one year I do not work. My joy in life is watching the house abuzz with the activity of people (read dh) getting ready to get to go to work, the maid and the cook coming, IL and FB all humming with activity. But come Thursday, and the knowledge that over the next 3 days both IL and FB are going to be severely deserted and come Sunday, dh will be blissfully in zoozooland until 12 in the noon - well this makes me crawl back into my gloomy corner on Thursday evenings. I have a special corner in my balcony with a board put up there called "Satchi's gloomy corner". That is my address from Thursday evening to Sunday evening if you ever need to contact me.

    Sorry for this long, rambling reply. I need to visit the doctor. Am suffering from an acute attack of verbal diarrohea. And by the way, this is my first nomination for May's FP.:thumbsup
     
    satchitananda, Apr 27, 2011
    satchitananda, Apr 27, 2011
    #5
  6. Apr 27, 2011 #6
    iswaryadevi

    iswaryadevi Platinum IL'ite

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    :rotfl :rotfl :rotfl As usual absolutely hilarious.

    I used to be like that during my school days. From Monday evening starts my depression and the last minute homeworks, assignments, sighhhhhhhhh...But these days, I just wait for that one day when I don't need to go to office :hide:
     
    iswaryadevi, Apr 27, 2011
    iswaryadevi, Apr 27, 2011
    #6
  7. Apr 27, 2011 #7
    Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Meena. this thread reminded me of a poem by the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, who describes the life of poor farmers in it. He says the happiest time in their life is Friday evening since they anticipate Saturday when they won't have to work and the saddest is Sunday as thoughts of Monday's toils occupy them. Yours seems to be the same case. Only thing is Leopardi can be quite depressing but you never are..
     
    Balajee, Apr 27, 2011
    Balajee, Apr 27, 2011
    #7
  8. Apr 27, 2011 #8
    Kamalji

    Kamalji IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Meena,

    First of all, welcome to Snippets once again. i missed yr lively blogs and see i am not disappointed at all.

    So, Sundays are gloomy for u eh ! The bib thing was hilarious really, clothes socked in tears eh ! :rotflYou are too much, sorry three much.HAHA

    You know how to put spice in yr blogs with a dash of humour, but one day i am going to come all the way there, to find out if this is true or not:rotfl

    But if u are veg, well then i may think twice about coming.HAHA

    Superb, i have exhaused all my nominations but i will nominate this in the next round be rest assured.

    Just too good, and do come often, i miss u a lot.

    And remember Satchi has taken yr seat in yr absence grab it before she sticks in it with Fevicol and may not vacate it.:biglaugh

    Regards

    kamal
     
    Kamalji, Apr 27, 2011
    Kamalji, Apr 27, 2011
    #8
  9. Apr 27, 2011 #9
    ptamil2007

    ptamil2007 Gold IL'ite

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    So well written and very aptly described Meena

    You can be sure I will not knock at your door on Sunday evening as we would not attempt to think of getting out of our own house :)
     
    ptamil2007, Apr 27, 2011
    ptamil2007, Apr 27, 2011
    #9
  10. Apr 27, 2011 #10
    Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    My dear Meena

    I am more moved by the tale of your woeful Sundays than Gauthama, the Buddha was moved by the miseries of the world that led to his Nirvana. By the time I was into your third para, I just couldn’t read further as my vision was getting obstructed with tears welling in my eyes. During my long voyage of 68 years, I have experienced many miseries myself and have seen a lot more of them stalking the hapless humans and beasts. But your misery is totally new to me and believe me, I have become an instant hater of Sundays.

    I remember a story titled ‘A week of Sundays’ that I read from the Book of Virtues by William J.Bennet. The main character of the story Bobby is a guy who declares ‘nothing fascinates me more than work. I can sit here and watch it all day, if you’ll only give me the chance’! He says this of Sundays. “It’s Sunday, my dear, the day of rest! Now why would you want to disturb it? If you want my opinion, it’s the only day out of the whole week worth getting out of bed for. The only problem with Sunday is that as soon it’s over, the rest of the week starts up again.” When I first read this story, I found myself totally in agreement with Bobby but after reading your story, my view of Sundays changed radically. If I were Pope Gregory XIII, I would retract my decree and order a whole new calendar devoid of all Sundays.

    I would even grab the nearest Sunday by the neck and wring it out of shape. Anything to bring a smile back on the face of a favorite niece of mine!
    Sri
     
    Cheeniya, Apr 27, 2011
    Cheeniya, Apr 27, 2011
    #10
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