Operation Clean-up

When I put my soiled linen for washing in the Washing Machine, least did I know that the machine will do mischief in the middle of the night. There were not too many clothes for washing, and I thought I would put them in the machine before I went to bed, and so I did. When I got up at about 4 O clock in the morning, I felt water under my feet, and I felt fishy. That is not possible, I was sure. I switched on the light and saw that the floor of my room was flooded with water. I knew it should be the washing machine; it had happened earlier too. The outlet of the washing machine had come out of the pipe and it had flooded the floor then. But this time it is a different story.

When I rushed to see what was happening to the washing machine, I saw the machine lying on the floor, and the broken water pipe was splashing water on the floor. It was pouring water forcefully, and I found it hard to stop it. After a little while, I realized that the tap for this pipe was on the other side of the wall, and so I rushed in to stop it, and it did stop. But what do I do with the already flooded floor. The water had been flooding all through the night, and none of the three of us took note of it. I went to sleep again, but soon realized that it was becoming bright, and the day was breaking. I got up from bed and began to sweep the floor, but I knew that a Herculean task was awaiting us.

It was about five o clock, and my provincial after getting up realized that the floor was flooded, enquired from outside what it was, and I briefly reminded him that it was the washing machine. Soon he came with his short pants, and so I, and two of us began to sweep the water through the kitchen, where the washing machine was placed, but it was an impossible task for two of us to drain so much of water. First I tried to push the water with a broom, but nothing much was happening, and so I began to collect the water in a bucket and was throwing it in the sink. But in about ten minutes I was sweating profusely, and my vest and short pants were wet with water and sweat; we both continued to push the water from both ends of the corridor.

The water had spared only two rooms towards the end, where the floor was somewhat raised, and so water could not go in; but in all other eight rooms, the water had occupied almost all the place. As we were draining the water, one of our other companions was having his sound sleep; his sound sleep could not be disturbed by our noise-making operation. But we did not bother about him, and continued our operation clean-up. After a full one hour of cleaning and clearing, the provincial was exhausted and sat on the chair, while I too was exhausted and wanted to relax for a while in my room. Before I wanted to sit down, I cleared the floor of all the clothes, bags and notebooks so that I could dry the floor with fan.

I had sent two lines about our early morning operation to one of my friends, and soon came a reply from her, saying that the operation was a proof of Jesuit team-spirit. I knew for sure that my friend really didn’t laud our team work, though in the case of operation cleaning it really was, in other cases, we are far from desirable team-spirit. Often we have been accused of upholding individualistic tendencies, and excelling in individual work, and struggling with common works. This point had come up for discussion on several occasions, but nothing seemed to be happening in this front. Maybe many more washing machines should collapse in each of our houses in order to bring all the members of communities to take up join operations, to strengthen our team-spirit.

The Surprise Visitor

I could not believe when it started to drizzle in the evening, as we sat for supper; initially I thought it was the bustle of the branches of the trees, but later with the patter, I knew it was rain. Even as I went for my customary evening walk, I could not make out it might rain. The five minutes of patter had left the ground wet, though it was far from being soaked. But in the middle of the night, I could hear the rain, and the cool breeze from my window was spreading a chill sheet. It was wonderful to welcome the surprise guest after so many weeks and months. I know the earth was waiting for the guest more than me.

As I walked early in the morning along the road, soaked with the rain, there was a heavenly scent; the smell of the earth is something that can fill one’s heart. The freshness which the rains can give to the earth is something that is hard for us to create for ourselves. The trees which had been preparing themselves for a fresh coat of leaves, found it opportune to shed their leaves, and the roads were full of pale leaves, and all that I could see were naked trees, stripped of their clothes, and bathing joyously on the waters from heaven. Sure the trees hardly get chance to strip themselves before bathing in the rain.

The sun has not shown his face yet, and the clouds are having a free run in the endless sky. The birds have their time, after being bathed in the fresh waters… how often do they get that free bathing, mother nature bathing her innumerable children all at once! She knows for sure when her children need a bath. I can see a pair of crows struggling to build a nest at the tree just outside my window, and what a surprise for me to see one of them with his/her one foot chopped off, and finding it hard to stand on a branch, and still s/he is there every day to add to the nest that the couple is making. May nature bless their efforts.

I love a cloudy weather, and more a rainy day. To gaze at rain drops falling from heaven is a wonderful experience; sometimes I love to be drenched by these waters, the nectar of the gods. God’s free gift to the whole of creation, and everyone has a share in it, without any distinction of color or caste or creed. I would love to welcome this surprise visitor, and everyone on earth should be happy to have a closer touch with him/her. The gentle touch of the rain is sure to soothe even the most troubled of hearts, and wipe away every tear from the eyes of those who have no more tears to shed. But as I contemplate this great mystery, the rains, my mind goes to somewhere else.

The human beings are notorious in making the entire universe cry with pain and agony; we have put our venomous hands on everything that we saw and found them beautiful; the forests, mountains, the seas and the rivers – we have not spared any part of the universe, and have emptied the natural resources of the universe in order to fill our barns and bellies. Is the universe today shedding bitter tears at the plight of her creation? Her tears are our life blood, and we need to keep her crying in order to let our fields turn green. Today I look up to the heavens, those pregnant clouds, and fold my hands with respect and reverence, and plead that they overlook our crimes and selfishness, and let the earth have her share of rains in plenty!

Miracle at your doorstep

The rain-soaked earth had a unique fragrance, which perhaps no perfume-maker can fake; nature has the copyright, and no one can tamper it. Thank God for it; the Americans may still be trying to fake it, or claim it (as they do, even for the things which have not been discovered or invented!). One needs to feel the earth, the soil still holding grains of rain, as if they were all too full with the sap of nector. The trees stood dripping drops of water, as if the small children after bath were standing with water dripping, waiting for their mother to wipe them. Nature had her own arrangement. Gentle breeze wiped the trees and hugged them gently, warmly.

The nocturnal creatures were in full form; the bats moved about frantically smelling the earth, sitting on the cold tree branches, and still wondering what magic has cast a spell on the earth that they were unable to realize it is the same earth they had known before. There was a silence in the midst of the traffic noise; one has to wade through the noise and din of the neighborhood, the fan, and even one’s own heart-beat. The silence can be heard so loudly that all other sounds may fail to compete with it.

No, dark clouds had decided to stay by in order to let the earth has its thirst quenched. The sun had let the childish pranks of the clouds take their turn, as he stood by looking tenderly at the earth he had been giving light for several millennia. The mighty sun stood helpless as the dark clouds showed their back to him, with tattoo marks, No Entry Zone! The momentary passing clouds dared to challenge the mighty sun!

It is not easy to feel the pain and agony of Mother Earth, as rain drops fall on to her lap, varying their pace and intensity, like the ayurvedic therapy with oil that fall on the forehead of persons drop by drop. But the earth stood still. Human beings have covered her body with a layer of impenetrable substance, cement and mortar, and the waters flowed lazily to the drains, but Mother Earth stood still thirsty. Luckily there were pores, through which she could try to wet her tongue. But it would take centuries for her to really quench her thirst.

One of the greatest miracles of nature is the rains; one needs a thousand eyes to behold the rains lashing on arrogant men and women, playing hide-n-seek with pavement dwellers, chase hopelessly those who had no umbrellas, drop heavily on the bald-headed, snap the little clothes that the women carefully wrapped around, give yet another chance for the lovers to get wet. You do not need to pay to witness this great miracle; all you need to is open the windows and doors, and you have a life-changing experience awaiting you.