The Laundry Room

It was known as the” Laundry Room” to everybody in the building. People hardly noticed its existence …but during weekends it was the “Laundry Room” that hardly noticed others. It’s as if the “Laundry Room” has come alive...And its big mouth the “Door” has the word “I am busy. Please come after sometime” written all over it.

I was never on time .Well, well... Just to clarify things, I am not particularly proud of it but still being an Indian, I rather would say I never hurry in Life. I do indulge myself in my leisurely pursuits (if it is not leisurely, then I make it leisurely by delaying it till I am in a mood).Thus I was rarely allowed to the “Laundry Room”...Because the realization of doing “Laundry” strikes my brains only during weekends, and again rarely does do I have the patience to wait outside and check for availability like everybody else.

Last Sunday, I did not expect things to go any different .But they did.

In that afternoon, I paid a visit to the “Laundry Room”. As usual I had to return with the same old Laundry basket with the same old :-( set of unclean clothes. I went to the lift, pressed the button and waited, while thinking about which movie to watch. The lift opened and alas! There they were two more laundry baskets. I did not take the lift, rather decided to follow the “Couple” and their laundry baskets.

This “Couple” looked like happily married, 35+ and very silent .I smiled at the Lady, She smiled back. I desperately wanted to ask her “Dear Mam, how long do you plan to wait?”But then the man nodded his head and started moving towards the pool. I guessed the Lady won’t be staying Long .By “Long”, I meant not more than 10mins.I thought, ok let’s wait for 10 mins not any more .The Lady looked at me ,she waved at me. I smiled again expecting to start a conversation to kill time. But then she looked at my basket and returned to adjusting her Clothes in the basket. I was bored, I noticed she had not separated her whites and colored ones. I felt good, I have arranged my Basket very neatly, all the whites on one side, then the blacks in the middle with the colored ones on the end, and then the fabric softener and the Detergent on the top. On this Earth If anybody should be allowed in to that “Laundry Room” at anytime, then that should be me. Five minutes went by. I decided to put my big “Ego” aside and talk to the Lady. I told her” hope we don’t have to wait for more than five minutes”. She showed me 10 with all her fingers, and smiled very friendly. I frowned, and told myself “What the hell, I have already been waiting for the last 8 mins and this Lady has all plans to make me wait 10 more mins”.At that time I did not realize, It wasn’t her but my own poor self...That was the cause for my wait. I was all geared up to compete with her. Seven more minutes passed by.Ooh!! I did not tell you people about the watch either. I had forgotten to put on the watch, but this Lady had a rather nice Swatch on .The first time I saw her, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful Swatch. During this wait, every two seconds I would rather have a look at her Swatch, promise myself to buy one the next day and somehow would manage to note the time.And then a miracle happened, the “Laundry Room” announced ,”All the washers are free,you can move in now”.I have been staying in this building for almost 5 months now, and this is the first time I am not thinking about buying a new set of clothes for the next week .


We both marched in with the feel of a big conquest. The man came back from the pool and started helping the Lady. I was busy in putting up all my clothes into the washer, the man turned and asked me my name and then he said my wife said you liked her swatch .I turned and somehow managed a smile. Both of them smiled back, she made some gestures with her hands to her husband; I looked at them a bit surprised. The husband smiled and told, “She says you are the only one apart from me who understood her sign language”. I did not know what to say, but I heard myself saying “that means you are not that smart :-), she moves her hands so clearly that anybody can understand)”.And we all laughed.


That day I did my Laundry after five months.

This Sunday I went for laundry. The “Laundry Room” was unoccupied .But I decided to wait .I waited for almost forty-five minutes. That’s way too long for me. I expected to be able to catch hold of the Lady .She did not show up .I waited for another 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, the “Laundry Room” got occupied. I moved back with the same old “Laundry Basket” with the same old :-( set of unclean clothes.

I promised myself to do “Laundry” next week.

Later that week I discovered that the “Couple” had moved to Toronto.