When Diwali Cleaning for Mom’s Visit

‘Expectations right. Results bright’. My forever mantra. But the lord of my whole world – my mum arrives and all the mantras go down the drain. Her expectations are always high when it comes to cleaning.

Living in a metropolitan studio all by myself was fun. But only till mom arrived with her pre-Diwali cleaning expectations. Damn! One day to go for her flight to land. I am on my toes like never before. Looking for hacks and trying all things new and old. Haven’t you been in this position? Well, let me tell you what all I tried and what all worked.

I tried countless methods as new as today and as old as your grandad but only one seemed to be useful. Drumrolls please……… CIF!!

Yep, that’s right, now you might be wondering what this miracle of a product is. Before I tell you the name, here’s promising, I haven’t been promised a world tour or luxury perks for writing about it. These are my honest heartiest feelings because this product saved me from my mom’s flying chappals.

Cif, is a gift of God. It is an abrasive all purpose surface cleaner that wipes all sorts of dirt and bacteria out of the oblivion.

Cif, unlike others (not to take any names) cleans out 100% of all dirt and germs. Most companies create and advertise their products to prove that they only clean 99.99% of germs.

This is so that the said .01% of germs can reproduce, and the cycle repeats itself. This will make you have to constantly buy the given cleaner or detergent once you’ve run out.

Another important point – The people at Cif, care about your bank account. For something starting just at ₹199, to be able to save you from a catastrophe as big as your mom’s slipper, now that’s what I call an investment. Truly value for money. I was under the impression that quality demands money. Well, yes it does but not with this God-sent present. So now, we know that it doesn’t only care about your bank account but also for your future.

Skillup to Cif. It is as easy as rejecting parwal, lauki and tinde on the dinner table. Just put a little bit on a damp cloth and wipe off the stain. Wash away the remaining creamy layer after wiping it from the surface. The only effort that this whole process involves is spotting the stains. I missed a few and I have no clue how, but mom found them all. I believe Indian mom’s are all top class detectives. Anyway, this liquid is my ‘super find’ so I am proud of myself. And because I was so kicked at this achievement, I ended up cleaning the whole house. I mean as much as I could. A part of my balcony parapet where I always keep my kadak chai had multiple mug marks, they also got cleaned, I just left one special mug mark. One for the memories with someone special. Ok ok no gleaming stares.

Let’s focus on pre-Dipawali prep again. While taking a break, I was wondering what to wear. I decided to go indo-western this year. The look where you have to wear Indian ethinic with something western. So my khadi kurta and pyjama set was a good match with my white sneakers. With a lot of enthusiasm I picked up my shoes but grrrr, they were badly stained from my last trip to Rishikesh. (That’s the best hill station up north.) Guess what I did! You’re right, same cleaning cream, same damp cloth and same wipe off-wash off technique. To my surprise, it worked. Yesss. Trust me it did. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the idea initially but I believe luck’s on my side these days. My sneakers are cleanest they’ve ever been.

Yet another thing that I noticed was that when I am cleaning or using soap or detergent a lot, the bottle usually starts slipping from my hand. It becomes slippery. But somehow it didn’t happen this time. Probably it has something to do with the bottle of Cif. I don’t know. I am just glad it didn’t. A very small but very important observation. Looks like it has been thought through.

This year I realized it takes a lot of time to bring the house in shape for a celebration.

My helper was a big support. He had ideas. Interesting ideas. Most of them worked. Some were crazy though. Like washing the floor with Cif. I facepalmed right away thinking it’ll be very expensive. And adding it to water might dilute it and not give the expected results so I refrained from doing it. But since my kitchen floor color is very light, it had some old stubborn marks. Normally I ignore those thinking they’re impossible to clean but this time since I was in the mood to experiment the power of my wonder product, I tried it for kitchen floor stains too. It worked. It actually passed all my exams with flying colors.

Yet another very important area of cleaning is gadgets. Clean the microwave from inside. Its glass plate should be washed properly with dishwashing soap and the rest of the inside walls should be cleaned with a damp cloth and wiped. Similarly clean the chimney filter by washing the grease off. Then clean its body with Cif of course. If your chimney has touch buttons, be careful about not letting water or moisture get into the buttons. But if it is sensor operated then you just need to clean the screen. Now comes the turn to clean to clean the fridge. This is also pretty simple. Just drag to slide out the section trays and wash them as usual with dishwashing soap or liquid and keep them leaned on to a slab wall so that the water drips while you clean the rest of it. Check the vegetable brackets for any stale veggies and throw them and wash the baskets well and keep it upside down for water to drain. Wash and wipe the inside walls with a soft scrub or a cloth. Once dry, reassemble the trays and baskets and it’s done. I recently bought an air fryer which also needs cleaning so I lightly scrubbed its outer body and it was clean as new.

Now was the time to tidy up and reclaim the space. The room where mom had to settle was all cluttered. A huge pile of washed clothes, dust on racks, spots on the switch boards, spider webs on the window panes and so much more. I could literally picture my mother fainting at this sight. I looked at my helper. He looked at me. We knew we had to do it. No choice. So we started with folding the clothes that were covering my books on the bed. I also found the AC remote finally. I should seriously cut down on my hoarding habit from ecommerce brands. This is too much for me to handle. So now organizing and arranging took forever and we both became too tired to continue. But mom’s flight was landing tomorrow so we only had today to pull off this stunt successfully. Every minute I was regretting doing this to my home. I will always be organized from now on. I was careful while cleaning switchboards with Cif but I did because I wanted quick and convincing results. You guys please don’t take these desperate measures.

I was thinking I could also use some temporary storage ideas. These houses in metros are pretty small and storage spaces are not sufficient. Back in our town, the houses have huge lofts the size of a small house of a metro. Ok I exaggerated a bit but they could fit in a room easily. But here make-shift storage ideas are good. Like a couch with a storage box, a central table with storage etc. How much will the box beds store and you can’t open the bed box all the. So accessible things are important. I have planned to give away most of these unnecessary things, whatever I leave will go in the new storage. But this is a long-term plan. For now, everything goes in my room. Can’t help it. Wardrobes already have some of mom’s stuff from her last visit so thankfully I couldn’t stuff up. And also for the fear of getting scolded or hurting mom. But good for me as I am relieved thinking I am a mess but not as big as I think I am (wink).

I was so tired by now that I didn’t want to do anything that required thinking or moving or decluttering to organize for a week at least. So I ordered Diwali lights online only. Oh mom had asked for a Mandir and a Laxmi ji’s idol too. Thankfully Amazon has it all. Even the other things like diyas, incense sticks, their stand and all. I am average religious and I know it has to be set up according to Vaastu, I also downloaded an app for directions of energy etc. Rest our guru ji will explain in a couple of days. Even the flowers will get delivered on the morning of Dipaawali.

Just when I thought this whole gigantic process of cleaning was done, and went to take a warm bath, I realized the taps and knobs were left. I completely forgot about them. Honestly I had never thought about this part. Then I took a tour of the house. There were 15 taps and showers and all of them needed to be cleaned. Some had developed a green-blue thing on the part where they’re attached to the wall. Some were too old that the landlord had not replaced, so they had rusted. Mom wouldn’t like these so here I go on a quick spree again. Without wasting a minute I Googled hacks to clean taps and here it goes with a long list of options. I believe a lot of people face this problem. Feels good to know I am not struggling alone. And feel even better to share a solution to everyone’s problem. The search engine was talking about vinegar and warm water mix to fix it. Of course I didn’t have vinegar. I have the bare minimum things to cook as I like to order most of the time. Coming back to what I did, by now I am sure it is predictable that I used Cif again. And it worked yet again. So clearly this is my go-to product when it comes to Diwali ki safai and prep.

After cleaning the stains with Cif, saying goodbye to a lot of things I no longer need, organizing the kitchen and rest of the house, deciding to add temporary storage and planning my first mandir, this massive task was done. Finally, I see it was all worth it. This was a grand makeover that I did. Those who have been there-done that, will understand my sense of achievement for sure. It feels like a mountain of a burden has been moved away from my shoulders. Listen, don’t miss giving a generous tip to your helper. They deserve it. And their smile will make you happy.

While cleaning is done, there’s a lot more to do to complete the festive home feel. For instance Rangoli powder colors and some design inspirations, washing curtains and cushion covers, getting dry fruits, gifts for friends and family, new planters for indoor plants, etc. Since it is Diwali, those indoor air purifying plants are very important. Keep a few camphor cubes also. I know crackers have been banned but there is always a relaxation for a couple of hours in that law so smoke happens and I have bronchitis so I have to be very careful. But if you have an air purifier then you’re good. For the shopping list, the colony fleet market stalls that come up a week before Diwali are good. I am pro ‘local for vocal’. But for gifts I’d rather go to a wholesale market with mom. It always has great prices and endless variety.

The festivities actually begin with Dhanteras. For this we have to buy some utensils for the kitchen. I really need a few so it is a good time to do it.

For now, my home is clean and tidy. What a sparkling joy it looks now.

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