Thursday, January 17, 2013

Laundry Lament

The spouse's pale blue shirt
emerges from the washing machine
with deep, dark maroon stains all over,
the colour of my darkest hand towel
staining it and the pale yellow lehngas
belonging to my granddaughters.
The guilt spreads across my heart-
one more load of laundry ruined,
destroyed by my sheer carelessness.

I know that it's a dream, though,
(a nightmare, actually)
because my presswallah dhobi
examining  the damage
uses the Malayalee word 'torth'
for the towel, and him
a Bihari in Kolkata who
has never been to Kerala!
And who would put fancy
net and gota lehngas
in a washing machine, anyway?
Especially not a person
who does not, as yet,
have grandchildren,
only granddogs!

12 comments:

Ugich Konitari said...

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under the sun.

A time to
comandeer the blue shirt,
cut of the sleeves,
and wear it yourself
as a
sleeveless open jacket
over the tees,
when you
cook with beetroot,
and quietly
wipe your hands on it.

And yes,
again,
a time
to visit
the best shop in Kolkata,
and celebrate the new year
with new lehengaas
for the granddaughters...
all the while keeping
the old ones
to celebrate
Holi !

dipali said...

Simply wonderful!!!!!
I'm glad I inspired this:)

Unknown said...

"Thorthu" <3 :)

dipali said...

@icyHighs: I stand corrected!I read this spelling in Sheila Kumar's book, Kith and Kin, Chronicles of a Clan

Anonymous said...

:-) at the granddogs! and also at the pome.
JLT

dipali said...

@JLT: Thank you:)

Sue said...

You had me wondering there... what granddaughters!!!

dipali said...

@Sue: It was a relief to realise that I was dreaming!!!!

Sukanya said...

oh, I so understand your plight. Love Konitari's response.

dipali said...

Sukanya: Thanks! Yes, that response is just so awesome!

Anonymous said...

And yet we do stain our spouses, with the dark maroon stories that course our veins, sometimes crippling their ability to reach for the pale blueness of the skies.

And what are granddaughters, if not the fanciful dreams we dream for our children?

dipali said...

@thelastbyte: Welcome to my world! What a lovely, poetic response- thank you!