6:30 AM is mid night for me, but still when the alarm goes off, I drag myself from the bed and get to the kitchen somehow. With my eyes half closed, I try to remember what I am doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Then I recollect, my son’s lunch!

Trying to remember where the wheat flour is, I manage to locate it and make the chapati dough and roll it. A quick look at the clock clears off the sleepiness. 6:45 AM.

And kiddo is still sleeping. Time for Scream No.1 :’Wake up Guys, its getting late!’.

I am fully awake by now. After rolling and making the chapatis, I search for my son’s lunch box. These things have a way of disappearing at the precise moment you need them the most. After looking for it among a pile of steel vessels, there by waking up the entire neighborhood (except my son and my husband, of course), I find them and pack my son’s lunch.

All this time, I keep calling out to the guys to wake up. Time : 6:55 AM.

Time for the last scream, this time the audience is my husband : ‘Its getting REALLY late now. You will be taking him to office if he misses the school bus’. That works like a bucket of ice cold water and wakes him up in an instant. Fifteen minutes later, my son is ready after his morning ablutions, breakfast and is in his uniform refusing to finish the breakfast.

7:12 AM, we have to be there in the bus stop in another 5 minutes, so trying all the tracks from begging to pleading to bribing  to yelling to make him finish his breakfast. Yes, finally all set. Just have to get in the bike, drop him at the bus stop and once the van leaves, peace reigns back.

At 7:15, when we were really rushing out of the house, we received a call from another parent saying that there is no school today because of the local elections. Good that we didn’t have to stand in the bus stop for half an hour before getting to know this!

After going through so much in the morning : getting up ourselves (toughest job), waking the kiddo (comparatively easier), cooking, packing, rushing through everything, no school!

If it was a last minute thing, I would understand. But the election dates was announced long back and the school could have planned this much better. How about parents who are both working? I always wonder about that!

Is someone listening? Any one?

I had to cook something from Shalini’s Sanctified Spaces for this week’s Blog Hop Wednesday. Its a must check out blog, with a lot of things in there : Decor, Antiques, festivals, temples and of course cooking! Great job, Shalini, keep it up!

I chose the Carrot and Chilli Pickle from her place. Easy to make and really delicious!

Ingredients:

• Carrots                                    :         4 medium
• Green Chilli                           :         2 – 4, per taste
• Lemon juice                          :         2-3 tsp
• Yellow Mustard Seeds      :         2 tbsp
• Sugar                                        :          1 tsp
• Salt

Method:

1. Cut the carrots and the green chillies into 2″ long thin strips.
2. Combine the carrots, chillies, lemon juice, salt and sugar in a bowl. Check the seasonings and adjust according to your taste. Leave it over night for the flavors to blend. Drain off excess water in the morning. 
3. Crush the yellow mustard in a mortar and pestle (it should be crushed, shouldn’t be a powder) . Add this to the carrot julienne mix and let it rest for another hour or so before using.
4. Refrigerate and use with in 2-3 days.

Linked to:

• Blog Hop Wednesdays