Scribbles Galore

I have been told by a few people that I focus too much on relationships and on my past so today I thought of posting something a wee bit different. And I am sure most of you can relate to this…Household chores! Yes, the topic for the day!

These are a part of every household. No matter what age you are, your parents have always guided you or even demanded that you be in charge of certain things in the house.

In my case, it is mainly putting the clothes in the washing machine and then putting them out to dry, folding them, clearing up the kitchen, occasionally the TV room, the hall, making sure everyone has eaten (if the mother is not home) and of course doing some cooking!

My brothers usually are in charge of going to the kade to buy bread or some last minute stuff, bathing the dog, locking the gate, doors etc and taking out the garbage, to name a few.

One thing I have noticed about my mother is that she has a distinct way of doing things. So she usually has a lot to complain about. The laundry is one of them! I remember one morning when she woke me up and it was almost like a dream and the huge thing was that the washing powder had been put into the wrong compartment of the machine. You see, there are three sections and each one is for a different type of wash. So, the previous night I had put the soap into the wrong compartment! He he… And this was brought to my attention when I was woken up the morning of my driving test!!!

Then of course comes the drying of the clothes! Now that is always a lot of fun to watch my mother do. She has this system where you start from the middle of the clothes wrack and go to the ends. And you must always remember, that if you start from the left, the next has to be the right and then the left… etc etc. Another important note is to gasanna the clothes so that they have no wrinkles when you put them on the rack! Yes, of course these are practical thing to do, but every time I get to it, the procedure is repeated! I guess that is a motherly thing! Repetition!!!

One of the biggest battles we have is when folding the clothes! It is like world war three!!! It is hard to even explain the system. Pants and shorts have a certain way of being folded. T-shirts and shirt have another system and the best is how my dad’s handkerchiefs are folded. It has to be folded in half three time and before it is folded each time, it has to be ironed! Even the underwear have a system. I wish I could explain in words but it is really not easy. The fun part is actually painting a mental picture of how the mother and daughter battle it out coz I have one system and she has another!

Keeping the house neat and tidy… even for that, of course there is a ‘system’! I will take for example an incident, which happened recently. My brother and I were in charge of cleaning and tidying up the house coz she had to handle the cooking as we were having a dinner at home for a few friends. After she had finished with the cooking, she wanted to have a snooze so we went on with the work and even managed to finish with a bit of time to spare, to have a short nap as well. Once she awoke, I heard a huge ‘ha-ho’. My brother and I both ran to the hall, downstairs to check what it was all about, and to see, the cushions and the plant pots were not in place! Or at least the way she wanted… So our Ammie dear placed them the way she wanted and she was content. My brother and I both laughed it off as another one of our mother’s household eccentricities!

My father on the other hand is not always into getting the house work done coz by the time he comes home from work, one of the few things he looks forward to is dinner, the newspapers and if it’s Monday, ‘jana handa’ and then of course, bed. But on Sundays, or some Sundays, he gets into a fit and starts cleaning up. Now, he insists that he has a “method in his madness” and he starts cleaning. He also insists that the three kids get involved and at the end of it, we are left exhausted coz he ends up creating a HUGE mess in the process of cleaning up. Which makes it much longer to finish our duties! That is my dad for you!

I must admit that I have got a bit of both worlds when it comes to keeping things spick and span. I have to also confess that I am a ‘neat freak’. When my friends come over they have a whole list of rules to abide by so that they will not disrupt my room and how it is organized. Everything has its place. And everything is arranged in height order or in order of how often I use things. Important: No slippers in the bathroom… as the bathroom floor will get muddy and I hate wet bathroom floors. So I have a separate pair of slippers for the toilet. Everything, including my bed has a particular position.

I know, I sound like a chick who has escaped from an asylum… but that’s me… the crazy flicker!

I guess we all have a certain way of doing things in order to maintain the balance in our small worlds.

Our parents may come across as crazy when they insist you do things “this way” or “that way” but, hey look at what became of me… I think I have got all their freaky qualities in one! Ha ha… J

During our journey of life one thing we come across are relationships. Relationships, I feel, are the building blocks of a society.

It all starts with our families and then progresses into friends, peers, acquaintances, teachers, bosses… and the list goes on.

We meet people everyday. Being a journalist, like me, means you have to deal with people all the time, from little kids to great grandmothers! Every person you come across, you deal with in a different way. Through work the relationships you build can either last through till you finish with your article or project or can last months.

Then there are the people you meet at work. Not just your work mates but, the cleaning staff, the peons, the security guys. They are all a part of the environment you work in, either directly or indirectly. You may even speak to people over the phone and may never really see their face but a relationship is built.

Sometimes not having even one of them around, leaves a vacuum in the day and you may not even realize why there seems to be something missing, and when you inquire you find out that one of the people who make your day, is missing or on leave.

Going back to the beginning of it all, your family. It consists of a whole heap of relationships and each of them varies from the other. From your father, to your mother to your siblings, every relationship differs. You approach each of them in different ways, from how you talk to them, to how you behave in their presence, to what you tell them. Having to deal with so many differences under one roof is not an easy task and so much happens. There will be times of fun and laughter to times of sadness and tears and arguments.

I guess no matter how bad things get, in time you realize that this is all training for facing the world out there. You may wonder, in fact many a time, why on earth the things that happen, actually, happen and why you fought with a family member in the first place and you realize that it has actually got lost in the argument itself!

That aside, as I mentioned earlier, you meet people all the time. The bonds you form may be for a brief moment while you are out socializing or they may be bonds that you form for a few months, or a few years or even a lifetime… you never really know.

In the process of building a steady relationship with someone there are many bumps that you hit along the way. It is never smooth sailing. And then you wonder if all you go through to maintain these relationships to keep them going, is going to be all worth it, in the end.

Say, you are good friends one day and something happens and you drift apart, will you not sit and wonder, where the relationship went wrong and why on earth you built this relationship up in the first place?

Somehow with family, the chances of things going wrong and drifting away is not always likely but with friends things can be different coz they always have the option of either making it work or letting it go.

Do you really know of the effort put in is worth it? Will you ever know?