Laundry Day

It is a bright, hot and humid Sunday. The wind feels heavy and dry, as if it is blowing straight from the Sahara Desert. After winding up all the chores, Tannu decides she must do the laundry before noon, as the heat will be scorching later. Laundry is her favourite chore; sometimes she does it for a peculiar kind of satisfaction that leaves her content after washing clothes.

Excited to get started, she drags the laundry basket to the washing area just outside her room. The floor is as hot as lava, and the planters lying there seem to be screaming for rain—the gloominess on their faces is evident. Tannu takes out the clothes one by one and puts them in the washing machine, wondering why she cannot see or hear any bird singing or chirping. Maybe it's because of the oppressive heat. Thinking of the birds, she leaves the clothes there and refills the earthen pot with water, in the hope that the blue birds will come to her courtyard to sing again.

After this small but fruitful pause, she shifts her focus to the laundry again. She puts her hand into the basket and grabs the "treasure chest"—a blue pair of her husband’s jeans. She rummages through the pockets, trying to find the treasure of forgotten money that will go straight into her red piggy bank, locked in her Sheesham cupboard.

Her husband has agreed to this funny deal: if he forgets any money in the dirty clothes and Tannu finds it during laundry, she gets to keep it. Till now, she has found plenty—not enough to buy a lavish apartment, but enough to treat herself to a nice pair of shoes, a dress, or a meal at a lavish restaurant.

But this time, she double-checks. Even after checking thoroughly, she is unable to find a single penny. With slight disappointment, she puts the jeans in the machine. With a long face, she finishes all the laundry.

Due to the scorching heat and the amount of work she has done, Tannu is feeling knackered. After hanging all the clothes out to dry, she makes herself an aromatic cup of cardamom tea and sits on a rocking chair to relish it. She tells her son about the incident, and they both laugh.

Her son says playfully, “Mamma! Your piggy bank will have to stay on a diet for a while.”

She smiles and sips her tea. We, Indians have a great fondness for hot tea—we love it even when the temperature touches 45 degrees. After finishing her big mug, Tannu rocks gently in her chair, reflects for a while, and then gets up to continue with the rest of her chores.

In the afternoon, she thinks of gathering the dried clothes from the rack. Suddenly, her husband strides into the room and says, “Give me my blue jeans. I have to go to the market to pick up something for the gym.”

“What’s so urgent?” Tannu asks.

“Nothing much. The vendor is available, and I want to meet him personally and sort out an issue regarding some previous gym material,” replies her gym-freak husband.

She has a heap of clothes dumped on the bed. Sensing the urgency, she tosses the jeans towards him.

He catches his blue pair of jeans and quickly slips into them. As he puts his hand into one of the pockets to adjust the fit, he feels a crisp paper inside it. Pulling it out, he says, “Why have you washed this 500-rupee note?”

She turns towards him in complete surprise.

“What… how?”

“I checked all the pockets twice!”

Her husband smiles, “Maybe God did not want this money to be found by the one who hasn’t earned it.” She laughs, clapping her hands lightly. “Yes, maybe.”

Her husband leaves for the market, and she delves deeper into the thought behind the incident. She realizes that if the Almighty does not permit something, even the smallest things won’t happen.

With this thought lingering in her mind, she walks into the kitchen to prepare her son’s favourite lunch—Masala Idli.

God is the Almighty.
If He wants, you will.
If He does not, you won’t.