Political twist to my dilemma

Like most of my working days, my weekends are also generally packed with household responsibilities.  As my wife also works 6-days a week, we have to manage all our weekly chores on Sundays. Many a times, she takes care of the household and I go out for Monday-to-Sunday shopping. In fact, at times I feel we are so bogged down with this weekly schedule that our family as a whole has become quite asocial.

Whenever I go out shopping alone, my wife would suggest that I take the car instead of walking down.  While I am not a health freak but I do enjoy walking and these short walks to the vegetable market or our local grocery mall is by far the only physical strain I put on myself.  Most of the times, my argument favouring a ‘healthy’ walk prevails over her concern about exposing me to neighbours ‘spouse-labour’ sarcasm.

Over a period, either due to her own pressures of work or the fact that she got used to the routine, she has stopped bothering much about this.  Nevertheless, there is one item that she has always refrained me from shopping for – and that is a broomstick. Not for any special love for Harry Potter but she has ensured that this important piece of our shopping is never done by me alone.  And whether I carry other 4 heavy pieces of our shopping bags, she is the one who carries this piece always. While I have had no hang-ups about it, I have respected her sentiments on this always.

Some of the recent political events have brought out different connotations of this contentious piece of our shopping list. There has been a political twist to this dilemma of ours. Now, I have argued, that carrying a broomstick should no more be a taboo. It is acquiring a new status in the society, symbolizing awakening of a new political class. The class of non-aligned, upright, honest, path-breaking, new order leaders. Therefore, I should not be denied of a chance of creating my political identity and I should be free to shop for a broomstick without being forced to go by car so that broomstick is just carried from the basement parking to my flat.   ‘AAP’ as a Hindi word carries a lot of respect. I am waiting for the weekend to come when I will carry the broomstick all by myself with élan – with its new found political identity, status symbol and brand.