Expressing daily activities - daily life in English

Kamlesh and his daily routine

John Diwakar sat at the table with his classmates of yesteryears.

They were therefore for an Alumni Re-union. It shocked him to see their
haggard faces with receding hairlines greying at the temples. It was
difficult to associate those aged looks with the young exuberant faces
from his past.

“What have you done to yourselves!
You look older than your thirty-five years! exclaimed John.
“Life is hectic, John! We’ve been working very hard at our jobs,
so hard! that we only occasionally find time to eat or sleep,” said Prem.
“Life is hectic no doubt, but each day is not so. It is monotonous
and dull – we do the same things day in and day out. The same old
routine!” This was from Kamlesh, the most energetic in their team during
their school days. Kamelsh could never conform to a work schedule.
To him variety was the spice of life. He would jokingly raise his coffee
cup in the canteen and say, “Let’s eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow
we die”. John turned to him and exclaimed, “How can life be a routine
for you Kamelsh, when you a doting wife, two lovely children
and a host of friends?”

“You’ll be surprised if I tell you how!” said Kamlesh and began
on his long description of a routine day in his life.

“I got up at 4.30 a.m. and start my day with buckets, at the
queue near the water-tanker. After half-an-hour of pushing and pulling
and calling each other names, I manage to carry back six buckets of
water. By then I am soaked to the skin, partly by sweat and partly
from the spray I am showered with everytime there is a squabble over
the water tube. By 6 a.m. I have completed my morning preparations
and have shaved, bathed and dressed for work. From 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.
it is “sharing responsibilities” time! I take charge of some of my wife’s
household chores like ironing my son’s uniforms, filling his water bottle,
checking his schools bag, polishing his shoes. At 7.15 a.m. we sit together
at the table for breakfast. At 7.45 I leave home for work while my son
sets out for school. I drop him at school on two-wheeler and reach
office at 8.30 a.m.

From 8.30 a.m. I sit at a desk with the in-tray heaped with files
and the out-tray empty. It is a non-stop movement of hands, files and
trays till 6 p.m.! Finally at 6 p.m. I clear my desk, lock my shelves and
return home, picking up my son from the coaching center on the way.
I am back home by 7 p.m. Till dinner at 8.30 p.m. I spend time,
catching up on the news by reading the newspaper or watching T.V. In
between I help my son with his studies, make courtesy phone calls to
relatives, submissively listen to my wife’s tirades or catch a wink or two
on the sofa.

After dinner at 8.30 p.m., I take a solitary walk down our lane
and occasionally bump into a neighbour who stops awhile for an aimless
chat.

At 9.30 p.m. I am in bed ready to slip into an undisturbed sleep
till 4..30 a.m. in the morning when the water lorry will screech to a halt
and the driver will blare his horn persistently with all the vigour of a
farmer’s rooster in the countryside.

John had listened very attentively. He now nodded his head
sideways and said, “I still don’t understand why you should look so
old!”