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June 01, 2007

Doing the dishes.

Ask me to name one thing that has been around ever since k & I got married, always there to remind us of what life can offer, that "if we dish 'em out, we better be able to take it",always full, always loud and always demanding our attention, and I would reply instantly (like those annoying first-bench students in school who would raise their hands even before the teacher asked the question - I, on the other hand, was cool, I sat on the second bench, NOT the first! Ok, aside over, back to topic now->)...where was I? You know what? I am not very fond of asides, as my Professor once said, "If you think something's important enough to put in parenthesis, you might as well make it part of the original sentence". Anyway, back to our constant companion:

"The Sink!" (accompanied with drumroll)

You are now going to ask me if I have had too much of coffee or javascript for the day and perhaps, I should blog at a time when my brain decides to construct relatively saner thoughts? And I would say, "Ah ha!".

Actually, I would say, "Let me explain why" but I would probably throw in the "Ah ha" too - it make such an impression in a conversation, don't you think?

Where was I? The sink. Yes, our long association (especially k's looong association) with the sink began during our marriage - nalangu (the fun and games part of a TamBram wedding). I had a small container of dal and k had to convince me to give him the dal and this is what followed:

"Please give me the dal"

Lol (like that would work!)

"I will buy you a saree/piece of jewellery/something cute if you give me the dal"

"Gee, thanks! But, no thanks!"

"Ok, tell me what you want..."

(Now we are talking!) "Promise to do the dishes the first three months after our wedding"

And things were going pretty much according to plan (mine) when k's mom, who until then was busy chatting with her sisters, suddenly turned to k and asked, "So, what did she ask" and after being informed of my demand, she said, "Whaaa? My son is not going to do the dishes! Poooor Kamal" etc. k, predictably, beamed.

I, being the docile, shy bahu etc smiled and looked down and gave k the dal.

Scene change. Fast-forward a year into our marriage and you will see "beaming k" loading the dishes carefully into the dishwasher (hey! don't give me that look, I cook and unload the dishwasher!)

Scene change. We are at B&P's place and have just had tea. I rinse my mug at the sink and k follows. But we notice that he spends an extra long time at the sink. Apparently, their sink (like ours) is unhappy with k and wishes to gush out in anger at him.

Scene change. We are at work and I walk into the break area at around 10 AM and whom do I see there but my dear husband, staring morosely at the office sink. It clogged too!

And that's when k made peace with his constant companion, the kitchen sink. They clog less when he's around now and he in turn, treats them with the TLC that a faithful companion deserves!

4 comments:

Parth said...

I love complete division of tasks so as to not have confusion. Dishes work for me, as much as my not cooking works for my wife (ya, the cooking's pretty bad)

dinesh said...

Pretty funny...I went through your archives to find your last "pretty funny" post. Ah, what a coincidence ? K was slammed there too :)

RS said...

parth - That's the division of tasks I have seen in most desi homes. I wonder what MILs will say when they get to know about this :)

dinesh - slammed? Poor k, nope, I would call it popular mention on my blogspace :)

Anonymous said...

Seems like K is inspired by Flylady.

Visit www.flylady.com and you will see the first baby step as "Shine the sink"

Way to go!!

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