When Laxmi Rang The Door
This is the story of that, one, not so quiet afternoon whose discretion was dreadfully destroyed by Laxmi.
As Hindus, Laxmi is an auspicious Goddess of Wealth who must be welcomed into our homes with arms wide open. This Laxmi, who I am about to describe, however, belonged to the group of people who have displaced the Goddess to occupy a far more critical position in our lives. She was our maid!
Laxmi was a short, thin woman in her early 40s, though she claimed she was still in her early 30s, with energy levels only matched by cocaine. She was dark-skinned and always wore a synthetic sari which she gathered and stuck into her petticoat as she started her chores. Her sole purpose in her work-life was to break her record in cleaning the house faster than the previous day.
Laxmi arduously kept our homes spick and span, only enough for you to call her back each day. She gloated, knowing the fact that we needed her more than she needed us, and was never afraid to show it!
So, this fine afternoon, as I sat filling colours in my meditative Mandala, the bell rang and entered Laxmi. Without uttering a word, the two of us resorted to doing our respective labour. I resumed to the quiet solitude of my Mandala art while she headed to sort things out in the kitchen.
The first bang startled my brush pen, causing it to slip into the adjoining circle. So, commenced the thunderous clanging of steel in tunes that gave the clouds a run for their money. One after the other, she showed no mercy on the ill-fated plates and glasses whose only fault was providing us with a base for our delectable meals. Now that their purpose was served, we had no choice but to leave them at the unforgiving hands of Laxmi.
I sat there speculating if the job could have been done with minimum noise, but then again, I think Laxmi genuinely thought she was creating melodious rhythms through her dishwashing ability. Only people who heard her from not so afar felt otherwise.
I considered starting a yelling competition (to ensure she heard me over the loud pounding) to ask her to do her job a little less strenuously so as to spare my ears and return my meditative afternoon, but fortunately, I knew better than to tread that path. Our previous pleas had fallen to deaf ears. Obviously, she couldn’t hear us over all that raucous! She also wasn’t afraid to express that we should refrain from dictating how her job should be done.
And so, I decided to take the higher road. I set my pens aside, closed my book, bid goodbye to my peace, and turned on the television- the only device with the voluminous ability to drown out Laxmi and save my soul!