Drenched

It was my first Valentine’s Day after marriage. Its barely a month that I have been married... So I was really looking forward to a great day. Here’s an account of how we spent our day.

It was a typical day, where I had to get up and go for work. But we had planned a nice dinner in the evening. Atul had a *conference-call in the evening, so he was going to be late. Knowing all this, I decided to go home early & present Atul a surprise by making the house all tidy & clean. (Yes, that’s indeed a great gift to present to your spouse, especially when it’s just the two of you trying to clean the house day in and day out... There are so many chores to be done! I must mention here that my husband does help me with the daily chores!)

So I began tidying the house. I put this in place and put that in place. Cleaned this and cleaned that. Then finally I started the washing machine. There is some problem with our washing machine drainage and we usually direct the outlet to the bathroom, where it needs to be fixed properly as it’s a little clumsy and unstable. I ensured that I had done everything necessary and decided that that’s enough of work. So I sat with the laptop making playlists, listening to good music... And waiting for Atul, expecting a nice surprise from him.

Eventually I got bored of making the playlists and got out of the bedroom... And lo behold! The washing machine outlet had fallen and the entire house was submerged in water! There was water in the kitchen. There was water in the living room. Water, water, everywhere! And my mind stopped functioning completely. I was forcing myself to think, “Think Mukta, where to start cleaning? How to clean? What to do? Think Mukta, think”... And the doorbell rang. It was our neighbor. The water had flowed outside the house!! And my neighbor was worried if there was any problem. She saw me in that shocked state and offered help. But what could she do? I could not think of anyway she could help me. I felt like a flood-affected victim. Totally helpless!!

You would not believe what I started doing. I took a bucket, and started picking up the water on the floor with my hands and started filling the bucket. I thought, slowly and steadily I would succeed...

Again the doorbell rang. It was Atul standing at the door with a beautiful bouquet in his hands. And the song running on the laptop was “Nadiya kinaare...” It was an amusing scene.

The calm smile on my husband’s face, that bouquet, and that wishing “Happy Valentine’s Day” amidst a calamity, really helped me regain my senses! In 15 minutes we had cleared the house from the flood waters... We put the fans on high speed and were out for a wonderful dinner!

The dinner and the surprises: It made my day! It made up for the tragedy that I had created!

When I wiped the floors clean the following day, I noticed that the floor tiles were shining. All thanks to the soapy waters that was thrown out of the washing machine!
I thought, “All that happens, does happen for the good”. :)

*A typical “task” of a software engineer, most of the times: terribly boring!