My cousin who returned from the US very recently, is still in the process of settling down. He has a lot of to-do-tasks in his kitty which includes getting broadband-ly connected, restoring relationship with MTV, KTV and NDTV, loving and jumping the traffic signals, exploring all the Saravana Bhavans and Biriyani houses in town, restarting train and bus journeys across the South Indian states and most important – bringing the house back to livable condition. However, this guy who is the synonym of laziness, has preserved the list as it is!
This Republic Day, he woke up thinking of and thanking Gandhiji for all what he has selflessly done for our country. When he didn’t know how to express his joy of being back in India, he sent this SMS to me – “Happy Republic Day! Hamara Bharat Mahan. Wishing peace and happiness to all”. Knowing him from my childhood, I am sure it is something which came deep from his heart, may be even from his intestine! J
This republic day, he realized something else too – that it has been ages since he washed his clothes. Thanks to his inertia to buy a washing machine, he looked at the heap of clothes to be rinsed, dried and ironed. All had was was four buckets in different colors, half a kilo of Surf Excel, two water taps, few cloth lines on the terrace and merrily smiling Chennai sun!
Again he thought of Gandhiji who even used to weave the clothes he wore. He wondered how Bappu managed his calendar – how he found time for his personal needs in between Dandi March, preaching Ahimsa and advising the Brits to bid tata to our country. Drawing inspiration from the Father of our Nation, our guy got geared up to complete the self assigned assignment. I guess little he did realize that Gandhiji was not a computer professional like him who wore full sleeved shirts, formal pants, jeans, tees, socks and boxers to work. Gandhiji also didn’t have jogging tracks, gym and swim wear and separate cloths to wear while playing tennis and badminton! Poor Bappu would have owned just two or three pairs of khadi dothi which do not require any hi-tech laundry plans!
Let me come back to his Republic Day exercise. After spending more than three and a half hours on playing musical chair with buckets and clothes, he put them on the cloth line for drying. In the next three and quarter minutes, he finds all of them collapsing mercilessly! He could only look at it sadly, wiping his tears and cursing his stars! Just a reminder - cloth lines are not oak trees that will live for centuries.
Jokes apart, I extend my condolences to the dirtied clothes!