Mothers and Clutters

During my childhood days my mom use to try desperately, to get my brothers and me organized!!! We of course believed in a different philosophy in life…we felt clutter in any form was “a thing of beauty…”, therefore, “a joy forever…” (With due apologies to Keats)

The three of us had our own way of organizing our stuff- Junior would draw roads and streets, and crossing on the floor and fill up the streets with miniature (dinky- Matchbox series) cars, planks of ply boards that would serve as flyovers and bridges. Of course if you draw with chalks it can be wiped away so Junior use to use nothing less then wax crayons!!! Those as the world knows CANNOT be wiped away and therefore destroy all his efforts and well laid out streets!!! His bed would have my hockey stick that served as shift gear and various other thingamajigs and whatchamacallits as various other motor parts. I remember locating my long lost compass and dividers there once…wonder what that was for…??

Senior- what does one say about Senior!!! Well, he was an ardent fan of S.T. Coleridge and believed only in sleep. Like STC said “…It is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole…”
Following in the footsteps of Mark Twain who once said that, “I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting…” This summed up his philosophy of life- then!!! I think my mom describes it best- he was a like a crocodile – the same way that crocs would come out of water and bask in the sun- Senior too would often be found stretched out on his stomach in bed (morning, noon and night) with his eyes shut, glasses still perched on his nose, body perfectly still… studying… contemplating… meditating and of course doing rigorous exercise. All around him would be mountains of books. He is the family genius !!!

As for yours truly- I was so much more refined then senior and junior- I was spick and span-I would NEVER Ever stoop to cluttering up things!!! Puh-lease, its so beneath me!!! I believed in the saying what you can’t see… does not exist!!! So one would never see any clutter of clothes in my room (they were arranged in a very well thought-out carefully careless manner in my cupboard- behind closed doors if you please) I was so well organized- I had kept a cache of books handy on, in and under my bed just to take good care of any urge that would strike for a particular book. I believed in the scouts motto – “Be Prepared” one never really knows at exactly what moment of time in your life do you have a urgent need for a particular book or apparel- so be prepared and keep everything together. Ah! The bliss of being prepared for all life’s eventualities!!!!

No matter how “cluttered” as others felt-(read mom) our beds, desks and cupboard use to be… we would managed to find our stuff in that “arrangement”

My dear mother tried and tried to get us to her way of “arranging” things, but we had selective hearing hence it would all fall on “temporary” deaf ears!!! Then of course the inevitable would happen… mom would go ballistic!!!!

However … as we were taught… “every cloud has a silver lining”… this too had its upside- after having a go at us… poor mom would feel so upset that to assuage our (so called) hurt feeling and her guilt for having a go at us… she would proceed to cook up a storm of our favourite food!!!
It wasn’t long before we (actually it was my “Eureka” moment) realized that the sure shot way to a great meal was to do stuff that Ma hated like fighting, throwing things around, leaving shoes, books , clothes at every nook and cranny possible, messing up the bed etc, etc we did manage to compile a list.

We are all blessed with inordinate amount of intelligence (not to be judged by academic results!! What do teachers and professors know anyway!!!). We soon found a way to mold the situation to our advantage.

What followed was nothing less then “Mission Impossible”. Like veteran strategists we would plan and mess up our books, beds, cupboards, rooms… in general the entire house and then proceed on to a well choreographed stage fight with complete sound effects…and … Voila!!! Mission accomplished!!!

First there would be a blast of a miniature (mom is diminutive in structure … like me) nuclear devise (for want of better words!!!) That would be followed by lip smacking, finger licking, and mouth watering scrumptious food!!! QED!!!

The trick of course was never to overdo and ensure it was NOT an oft repeated event- once or twice a month was good enough for us! Rest of the days- we could manage with whatever was served- if we didn’t like it – Junior would eat milk and chapatti (dudh rooti as he called it) I would eat milk and steamed rice that was dusted liberally with sugar and as for Senior… well he ate very thing on earth!!!

Life, they say come to a full circle… As the saying goes “What goes round …comes around”, “As you sow, so shall you reap”, Blah… Blah…Blah!!! Who on Earth ever thought of such silly, stupid and utterly, disgustingly, true stuff??? I guess they thought these up just to torment wonderful, stupendous, terrific people like us!!! I bet they never knew anything better!!! I bet its all Adam’s fault- why on earth did he have to eat that damn apple!!!!

I realized that I am more like my mom then I thought… I like to see my home neat, clean, tidy, closets and cupboards organized, pots, pans, containers “arranged” in order of size, spice jars labeled kept in order, shoes kept inside the shoe rack and the door or the rack firmly shut, clothes neatly ironed and segregated!!! Does this make me a control freak??

So for last 8 years I am trying to get my husband to pick up the wet towel which he loves to dump on the bed (particularly on the pillow in an artistic pile), get him to put his wallet, mobile phone, i-card, watch, glasses in one place instead of all over.

Like any other optimist I live with the fervent wish that there will be a day when miracles of miracle will happen and the wet towel along with wallet, car keys, watch, glasses, phone etc, etc would finally find their desired destinations…

I dream of a day when my daughter would pick up her “babies”, toys, cooking utensils, etc and put them where they are suppose to be instead of ordering the entire household around to do that for her…

I live for the day when my family members will not sing “here comes the Mad Hatter!!!” every time I want to loose my temper when my home is disorganized (makes it difficult to loose my temper…particularly when my daughter would come and ask me – “Mamma, are you a Mad Hatter!!!”)

I guess all mothers when they see “clutters” turn into “Mad Hatters”