Seize the Day! What a wonderful call to make the most of the time and opportunities. However, it often seems that the day has seized me before I can do the same.

I wake up groggily. Always. A night owl, mornings do not interest me much. I belong to the school that believes that the morning would be fun if it began in the afternoon. And it is a testimony of God’s sense of humour that I have been married for over three decades, to the early bird! My heartfelt response to “the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day” is to shut my eyes and tell the sun to shine elsewhere.

By the time I generally wake up, the house is awake and…waiting. While I try to bootstrap myself for Carpe Diem with a cup of tea, the day is insidiously creeping on me. The dog comes and collapses on my feet to tell me that he has kennel cough and MUST be taken to the vet today. I can hear my husband sneezing at an alarming rate and make a note that the thicker comforter NEEDS to be taken out asap (it is September in Delhi!). My household helper (my personal domestic Goddess) tells me agitatedly that the cleaning woman called to say that she HAS to see some relatives today and would not be coming in. I remember that my father has a doctor’s appointment and I must organize the driver to go with him to preclude his driving. I am told that we are out of Gymkhana bread and “Bhaiya just CANNOT eat his breakfast with ordinary bread”. Just then my calendar pings to tell me that I have the first meeting at 9 AM in the office. It is 830 already.

Today also started with so much promise. Just one video appointment with a client and no other scheduled work. No social agenda while the country is in Lockdown. I salivated about the tasks (reading, napping, and just looking into space!) I have been waiting to finish. But work, like an octopus, extended its many arms (one at a time so I never knew what hit me) and clasped me to its bosom. I found myself staring into space but it was too dark to see anything.

I can deal with one day at a time but when several days attack me at once it is difficult to seize the day, even in Lockdown.