Monday 29 June 2015

Stop The Clattering, Please!

So I am dividing time between home and office since mid-week last. Since I don't have to teach-teach this summer (I only have a couple of students on a contact course, whom I meet once a week and stay in touch via email otherwise), it is a good time to do 'other stuff'. One of them was supposed to be some writing, but I am sad to see that that is not going as smoothly as I would have liked it to. It's not too late yet, I have all of July, let's see!

Meanwhile, the house is falling apart. I mean, almost literally. We have had these settlement cracks in our wall that were supposed to be fixed last year but we hmmed and hawed and let it go. And the other months of the year I find it virtually impossible to do anything for the house that requires more attention span than that of a gnat. So it had to be now. They are pounding away, creating piles of white dust, but we are consoling ourselves that it is all for a good cause, after all.

Although we know better (at least one of us is a Civil Engineer, I mean, he was, I guess, for a brief period in his early life), the child is convinced that her room is going to cave in. Despite my assurances. The trick is, with a tween on our hands, she doesn't easily believe anything I tell her. I mean, after all the words she needs to know meanings of (thank you, various musicians of the world for your callous disregard of me, a parent trying to skate that thin line), which I waffle about with, I can't blame her. Since I don't helicopter, per se, I am sure that she has read it up in her kindle dictionary and is half the time just trying to educate me.

On the one hand I am happy when they are pounding and clattering all over the walls, 'cause it means I am getting my money's worth. On the other hand, the headache is worse than ever. And the dust is overwhelming. And I am pissed off as hell at my house help 'cause they are not being in the least bit diligent. Since I am spending tons of time at home I have the pleasure of poking around in various corners of the house and actually seeing how awful they are being about the whole thing.

Which brings me to our whole effort with waste segregation. As a community we are doing super well, and we meet every Sunday and many of the houses are on board. The corporation workers when they do the house-to-house garbage collection, they carefully take wet and dry waste separately. Most people seem to have understood what it all means. We have a swanky new poster to explain it all anyhow. BUT THE EVIL PEOPLE YOU GUYS. In my own house, due to fights between two of my peeps, the guy keeps mixing up the garbage - to ensure that the lady - who has a raddi shop and takes away my dry waste to sell - doesn't get it. I mean, its Waste Wars inside my house. I have issued big threats today. It's a good thing from an awareness view-point that we fight over this shit - I mean it's an important enough thing that we squabble over it. #WatchThisSpace

There, I feel better now after venting and finding the silver lining. Even as I sit amidst the dust and hope that they don't hit the internet wire and screw up my precious internet connection. I am determined to figure something out with instagram today, so I really hope.