One in eighteen years versus three per monsoon
I was in Visakhapatnam in one monsoon to see my wife. My wife was doing her masters there and she had taken a rented flat on beach road adjacent to sea. Being born in Puri (a costal town of Orissa) I have special affection for sea. My mother says in my infanthood I was exposed to sea so many times that I used to identify all sorts of water as ‘sea’ – when I feel thirsty I used to ask for a glass of sea :). However I had never seen sea in rain. This desire I wished to fulfill while in Visakhapatnam.
One day it was raining heavily. My wife did not get excited with my idea to go to sea in the pounding rain - may be because she had witnessed it during rain number of times on her way to hospital. She preferred to stay indoors and volunteered me with her umbrella. I satiated my desire to see sea taking bath in the rain. It gives immense pleasure when dreams come true, particularly the childhood ones. 'Gain' in pleasure but 'loss' in drive... one needs to have dreams to keep going...
“Ladies umbrellas are too small” - back home I asked wife while she handed me a towel.
“Actually, this umbrella I am having since class 7.” - She replied with a smile.
There was less - a sense of achievement and more - a sense of guilt in her statement. Guilt - because I might have faced discomfort with the relatively small sized umbrella.
“Don’t tell me you have used it for the last eighteen years!” – I gave her a dumb look.
“Yes I have.” – came the casual reply.
I was in the habit of losing umbrellas – on average three per monsoon. My economist friends would argue endorsing my habit that when one loses and re-purchases – this is good for the economy as it results in transfer of wealth, more consumption and hence production, more GDP, more employment - all positive signals.
“But this is surprising… how could you manage to do this!” – Still the fact has not sunk in me.
Being well aware of my losing habits, her answer to this was probably within the question she posed to me that she is equally surprised that how could I manage to lose them so frequently.
I did not say anything to her. I said to myself in defense – it is an art. The same answer I gave when I was asked by one of my professors – how did you manage to do that - after I forgot my laptop in an auto.
Yes it is an art. But how about not losing and maintaining the same umbrella for eighteen years. When she handed me the umbrella, it was wrapped in a cover and placed in the cup board. In the afternoon I saw her neatly packing the umbrella back after it got sun-dried. Yes, this is also another art. But surely, a far superior one!
One day it was raining heavily. My wife did not get excited with my idea to go to sea in the pounding rain - may be because she had witnessed it during rain number of times on her way to hospital. She preferred to stay indoors and volunteered me with her umbrella. I satiated my desire to see sea taking bath in the rain. It gives immense pleasure when dreams come true, particularly the childhood ones. 'Gain' in pleasure but 'loss' in drive... one needs to have dreams to keep going...
“Ladies umbrellas are too small” - back home I asked wife while she handed me a towel.
“Actually, this umbrella I am having since class 7.” - She replied with a smile.
There was less - a sense of achievement and more - a sense of guilt in her statement. Guilt - because I might have faced discomfort with the relatively small sized umbrella.
“Don’t tell me you have used it for the last eighteen years!” – I gave her a dumb look.
“Yes I have.” – came the casual reply.
I was in the habit of losing umbrellas – on average three per monsoon. My economist friends would argue endorsing my habit that when one loses and re-purchases – this is good for the economy as it results in transfer of wealth, more consumption and hence production, more GDP, more employment - all positive signals.
“But this is surprising… how could you manage to do this!” – Still the fact has not sunk in me.
Being well aware of my losing habits, her answer to this was probably within the question she posed to me that she is equally surprised that how could I manage to lose them so frequently.
I did not say anything to her. I said to myself in defense – it is an art. The same answer I gave when I was asked by one of my professors – how did you manage to do that - after I forgot my laptop in an auto.
Yes it is an art. But how about not losing and maintaining the same umbrella for eighteen years. When she handed me the umbrella, it was wrapped in a cover and placed in the cup board. In the afternoon I saw her neatly packing the umbrella back after it got sun-dried. Yes, this is also another art. But surely, a far superior one!
posted by Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan at
4:02 AM
3 Comments:
Art vs. Habit. People say that habit never dies, but I think it passes away with the individual, but the 'art' - this probably persists. Art is immortal. A child calls water in glass as 'sea' - is it a child's ignorance or innocence or simply art!
(Ladies) Umbrella did its job when you were out in the rain. Only thing was that it was in wrong hand :). Perhaps you could not fit under it, or you wanted to fit somebody else in it :). Anyway you were out there to find 'sea' in the rain - a childhood dream. Indeed, art and dreams - what this world would have been without these.
"How did you manage to do that?" Do we need to be a good manager to lose things?
But one really needs to be 'one in a million' to be that organized. Hats off to those people. This is definitely an art. In this regard you are lucky.
I wish I could learn that art...
By
DESTINY, at 11:32 AM
Heheheehe...you broke me into laughter. But what made you think that your 'economist friends' would see opportunity in your loss. Do 'they' always think about economy ... and never about individuals!
If I know you, even a little bit, I can say with confidence (emphasis added) that you loose things not because you are very casual (you may be, though, a little bit); but because you would have been thinking of something else more passionately.
By
LIFE IS FICTION, at 5:44 AM
Like every person, every situation has something to teach.
By the way - I don’t know about other things, but as far as umbrella is concerned (the incident in the article had occurred in 2007) - in 2008, I used only one, and the same I am carrying this monsoon as well :).
By
Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan, at 11:36 AM
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