You must be wondering why if I have washed my bedsheet, that is news. Well, simply put, you obviously have never seen an engineering college boys hostel. :)
Let me call this the life cycle of a bedsheet. Or rather, the bedsheet is the palimpsest, the soul, and "jirnani bastrani jatha bihayah..." the dirt is the transient phenomenon whose life cycle I am going to chronicle right now.
It all begins with the clean and sparkling bedsheet after its fresh rebirth (read laundry service). You stretch it out, taut on every sinew, and place it and tuck it by exact geometrical linear orientations on your bed's mattress! You simply feel like rolling about on it and get rid of some dirt on your body, to make it look 'normal'. The more crumpled it looks, the happier you feel about you being the person who did it... being the person who actually used it afresh. You feel you should alight upon it like a feather does, upon another.
Ah... after some days (read weeks), you begin to see it merging with the floor colour. First, you just get a smell of something in your room. Next you get that smell even before entering your room. Gradually, the whole room reeks of the odour and you feel (well... actually, your friends and roomies feel; you don't) the odour in a gust whenever they are about to sleep. Finally, one day you discover that in spite of all the deodourants and powder-sprays and odonils, and in spite of the floor being quite dirty by your own standards, the bedsheet on the floor stands out as a blotch. Time for a wash!!
After about planning for a week(I am not sure, but that can be a month as well :) to finally put the threads of the bedsheet to the sword (read soap), you do it. But then again it is left there, all immersed in its watery grave along with tons of detergent powder, while more pressing issues occupy your mind. And then after some days you suddenly remember, "Oh!! I had soaked my bedsheet! " and you rush off to purge it of its sins in the waters of hell (the bathroom, stupid!). After undergoing all kinds of stress and strain tests that would put a beam of iron to shame, the bedsheet achieves nirvana and sets sight for the eternal sunshine.
And then again another day you bring it down, put it on your mattress, and the cycle begins... The rebirth of a soul, eh?
Let me call this the life cycle of a bedsheet. Or rather, the bedsheet is the palimpsest, the soul, and "jirnani bastrani jatha bihayah..." the dirt is the transient phenomenon whose life cycle I am going to chronicle right now.
It all begins with the clean and sparkling bedsheet after its fresh rebirth (read laundry service). You stretch it out, taut on every sinew, and place it and tuck it by exact geometrical linear orientations on your bed's mattress! You simply feel like rolling about on it and get rid of some dirt on your body, to make it look 'normal'. The more crumpled it looks, the happier you feel about you being the person who did it... being the person who actually used it afresh. You feel you should alight upon it like a feather does, upon another.
Ah... after some days (read weeks), you begin to see it merging with the floor colour. First, you just get a smell of something in your room. Next you get that smell even before entering your room. Gradually, the whole room reeks of the odour and you feel (well... actually, your friends and roomies feel; you don't) the odour in a gust whenever they are about to sleep. Finally, one day you discover that in spite of all the deodourants and powder-sprays and odonils, and in spite of the floor being quite dirty by your own standards, the bedsheet on the floor stands out as a blotch. Time for a wash!!
After about planning for a week(I am not sure, but that can be a month as well :) to finally put the threads of the bedsheet to the sword (read soap), you do it. But then again it is left there, all immersed in its watery grave along with tons of detergent powder, while more pressing issues occupy your mind. And then after some days you suddenly remember, "Oh!! I had soaked my bedsheet! " and you rush off to purge it of its sins in the waters of hell (the bathroom, stupid!). After undergoing all kinds of stress and strain tests that would put a beam of iron to shame, the bedsheet achieves nirvana and sets sight for the eternal sunshine.
And then again another day you bring it down, put it on your mattress, and the cycle begins... The rebirth of a soul, eh?
hey first time here .. had a good laugh reading your last post..
ReplyDeleteabt this one they used to say the same thing abt washing the pair of jeans, back in our hostel days ..
i remember this senior responding ( to someone telling him to wash his jeans pls ) by throwing the jeans on the wall n sayin " jis din chipak jayegi , wash kar dunga.. abhi scope hai "
Eww. You guys! What about blanket and pillowcase? Uska din kab aayega?
ReplyDeleteSanguine,
ReplyDeleteYour senior's jawaab gave me a reason not to wash my own jeans, too! Thanks for the tip. :) BTW, thanks for dropping by. Have checked your place and liked it.
Gratisgab,
My favourite punch line w.r.t. that is, "Roz roz nahana, ab gaya woh zamana". Pillowcase ka time tab aayega when my mom comes here, sometime in May :( , and the blanket is safely tucked under the mattress... that is the real buffer state between the floor and the gadda! :) Thanks for visiting, anyway!
boy..u write well. Me no hostelite..and I can safely say without sounding prudish that I am not given to such stale ..err ..state of affairs...but u actually make it sound like being dirty is cool :) Good one.
ReplyDeleteSuhail,
ReplyDeleteOnce again, thanks for the big compliment!! You must visit one of them some day to get a feel of the real happening thing. Although i'd say that some of it was a bit spiced up, it really is the flavour of life there.
Hope you stay around.
hey that is not limited to bedsheets, it happens to any garment that i do no tthink fit to give to a dhobi.
ReplyDeletethe exact same cycle.
lol.
Aniket, thanks for dropping by... :echo: your sentiments :) Will check out your place soon.
ReplyDeletehee hee, :) When I was PhD student, my guide, who is just 4 yrs senior to me and more like a friend, gave this very funny observation of his student life - how to maximise time of wearing a "undy" (underwear) without washing -
ReplyDelete(1) Wear properly
(2) Wear Front and back reversed
(3) Wear inside-out but front and back proper
(4) Wear inside-out as well as Front and back reversed -
your post reminded me of that.
Dory, thanks! And although very belated, welcome onboard!
ReplyDeleteSupratik, wow, you really had a great guide!! :)