Morning

Have you ever had the best sleep that you wish could be prolonged exactly 10 minutes before you actually HAVE to wake up. It happened this morning, I was sleeping soundly yet my mind was awake saying – you have to get up otherwise you will be late for work and you can’t beat the traffic….you can’t drive over pavements because you don’t have a four wheeler! And plus…you would never do that to your tyres and if you did….you would get a sound lecture from daddy! (It’s a common phenomenon in Qatar)

And right then my dad came in, saying, ‘Appu!! When do you have to go?’ Well, he knew rightly I was getting late but he is adorable and doesn’t want to yell first thing in the morning. I strongly believe that a bad start really cramps one’s style. If you get annoyed during the first pearly moments of your day the rest of the morning is evidently ruined….you end up being cranky, moody and irritable till something so wonderful and unexpected happens to make up for it….which is a rare outcome! The good thing about your family is that they are aware of these eccentricities and your pet peeves…so they realize that if they mess with that routine they would get it back! Many a time …I have overreacted when woken up early during the day for unnecessary reasons.

I remember one of Frasier’s episodes Space Quest – I absolutely love Kelsey Grammar’s character…his humour is pristine and anyone who appreciates sarcasm in the refined sense would certainly be an ardent fan of his show. For people who haven’t seen his show, he is a radio psychiatrist, a graduate from Harvard Medical School and I am presuming he is in his 40’s in the show but in real life he is a tad older. His father, a police officer is forced to retire because a thief shoots him in the hip and thus moves in with Frasier.

I related to Frasier completely because he is comfortable with the familiarity of his surroundings, décor, his morning routine….however, he forgets that he has hired a physical therapist named Daphne for his father. She is a simple girl from Manchester, England and who is full of life and turns out to be quite the opposite – a morning enthusiast! Early in the day, she keeps jabbering about her life and morning ablustions…she gives Frasier's Kenyan Starbucks Coffee powder some zest by adding odd spices which ticks him off royally.

Frasier's dad offers him a fried egg swimming in oil and some white bread for breakfast which he refuses immediately saying he prefers a bran muffic and a touch of yoghurt for breakfast, which is immediately mocked by Martin, ‘Girly breakfast!!!!’

Frasier - (Looking at the food) - 'I can hear my left ventricle slamming shut as I speak'

Dad - 'Do you want cheese with that???'

Frasier - No! Thankyou I would like some blood flow for the clot to go swiftly to my brain!

The newspaper isn’t out the door nor is it crisp because the rubber band is taken out and it's been read! so he gets utterly furious. 'I can't have my coffee, my breakfast and my paper'

He loses his temper and begins lecturing his dad and Daphne. His dialogues are classic - 'I am not a morning person. I need to ease into my day slowly. First I have my coffee, then a low fat high fibre breakfast and then I read a crisp new newspaper. If I am robbed from the richness of my morning routine I cannot function! And like ripples in a pond, so do the many listeners that rely on my advice to help them through their troubled lives. I've grown comfortable with this part of myself. It is the magic which is me'

Martin (Father) - He looks at Daphne and says 'Get used to it!'

As the day progresses he isn’t able to ease into the book he has been yearning to read and wants to get away from 'his father, Mary Poppins and the hound from hell!' (ie Martin, Daphne and Eddie the dog)

I remember, when I was studying in England, I would wake up in the morning take a shower...quite a long one, have some toast with tea, watch a couple of episodes of Frasier/Friends and then slowly get on with the day. I hate being rushed as I wake up.....I need to begin my day slowly...if you live with people who do not understand this about yourself...i suggest you make it clear...otherwise your going to be a pain in the ass to someone else who clearly doesn't deserve it.

Unfortunately, these rules can't be applied when your on holiday living with older relatives....who will turn off the fan, pull out your bedsheets, keep the water going in the bathroom nearby, talk on the phone in the room while your sleeping, turn on the tube lights, chat with other relatives using the laptop in the room, charge all 30 phones in your room so that you hear a jugalbandi of ringtones in the morning and possibly decide how to clean/rearrage the room cupboard........and leave the door open saying 'my God, she's still sleeping'!!!.......have you heard of jetlag?