IRON YOUR WORRIES AWAY! #WriteAPageADay #Blogchatter
It all began on one fine day when I went on a visit to my
aunt’s. My uncle was not too well, and it was more to cheer him up than
anything else. My doctor aunt has always been extremely houseproud, and hence, every
surface shone. Not a speck of dust anywhere, the dining table was so polished that
I could almost see my reflection. As I reflected (pun intended!), my aunt
announced lunch. She had made all our favourite dishes, and as Mom and my
sisters moved towards the dining room, I went to the wash room to wash my
hands.
It was then that the ironing table caught my eye.
Perfectly ironed clothes, along with crisp, fragrant bedsheets and pillow
cases, with ne’er a wrinkle, beautifully placed in little stacks! It was a
revelation! Imagine ironing bedsheets so meticulously? Wasn’t that an onerous
task in itself? What I did was sweep my bedsheets off the clothes line, and
fold them, pulling them in all directions so that the wrinkles would miraculously
disappear. At least I would pretend they disappeared.
That was a Eureka moment. A New Year’s resolution even
though it was August! I would also take my ironing seriously. Iron everything
in sight, from my Rajasthani counterpane to my kitchen towel. I dreamed of the
day when people would stroll though my house and gaze, entranced at my perfect
pile of ironed clothes. I would throw open my cupboard and visitors would gasp
in admiration at the sight of crisp cottons, shimmering silks and translucent
dupattas all nestled together in cosy harmony.
The next three days found me ironing for all that I was
worth. I spread out my kurtas, my saris, and especially my bedsheets, and with
every wrinkle that disappeared, I found my worries floating away. I hummed and
I sang as I worked. My husband could not quite believe his eyes. Was this
actually the girl he had married? The one who stuffed T shirts, kurtas and
socks in a higgledy-piggledy mess into her cupboard, especially when visitors
were expected? Had Dr. Jekyll taken over the persona of Ms. Hyde?
The bout lasted for exactly three days. Slowly, the
excitement ebbed as the bedsheets seemed to grow longer and my arm muscles
began to protest. They had never been exercised so vigorously for the past two
decades, after all. As the ‘josh’ died away, I quickly took a few photographs
of all the ironed goods just so that I had proof of all the hard labour over
three days. One never knew when the next bout would come around. Maybe when the
next set of visitors landed up!
However, I still claim that ironing does iron out
wrinkles, and worries. Though the bedsheets remain a trifled messy, and the
saris go to the dhobi, there are days when I suddenly get into a frenzy and start
ironing everything in sight. My better half keeps away as the piles become
bigger and my humming grows louder. As he mutters, “It is better than the washing
machine tussle.” The reference is to the time when we had bought a brand new
washing machine and I washed everything in sight, including our dog’s collar,
which inadvertently fell in and came out looking as if it had been chewed up by
the said dog.
The washing bout only got over when we bought a brand-new
juicer. By the end of that week, I had made juice out of every fruit and
vegetable in my house, and even graduated to my neighbour’s larder. It was an
extremely healthy period, till we had beetroot juice which made its presence
felt every time we went round the corner. After which I stopped!
Of course, reading Marie Kondo resulted in another bout,
which shall be described in a new chapter, since it will run into many more
pages. Not for nothing has #Blogchatter called this exercise #WriteAPageADay,
after all!
Loved it <3
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear AJ!
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