Bricks,Stones,Sand and Cement
It is sometimes strange, you know... There are things that would appear very trivial to you, but for someone else, it would be "the" most important thing on this earth.. I might laugh at that person.. "Hey, common man, take it cool... This is no big deal!". But if you put yourself in that person's shoes, then it might strike you, "Yeah, this guy is indeed making some sense here"..
The "journey" to my grandpa's house is indeed a big ordeal... Yeah, i am staying in the same city as his, but I stay with my friends here and he and my uncle. So new year day, i started off to his place... I was pretty late.. I told them that i would be there by 11 AM. My uncle had cooked and they were waiting for me and I spent the day in gym, saloon, laundry shop, calling up my friends and finally reached their place at 4.30 in the evening...(Didnt have lunch till then :( ...) So my grandpa serves me my lunch... He is also at the same time getting the house prepared for the Saturday evening sloka session. sloka-->sacred text in praise of the lord... Says, he started this in memory of my late grandmom... You know jike, i loved her a lot... Grandmoms are very special, isnt it? And for her too, I was the pet grandchild for I was her first grandchild... So after my lunch, I sat down for the session... Went for an hour or so.. After a long time, spent so much time with Him... So, it was indeed a different and good "New Year Day" for me...
So, my uncle is a project manager in a software company and so by definition of PM, u know how much time he can spend with family. He is actually constructing a house now and the construction operation is going on in full swing... Once the session got over, my uncle was home and the problem started... My uncle has office on Sunday,ok? He takes off on Fri and Sat. And he leaves pretty early to work too. So the next day(Sunday), if he is leaving to office, whos gonna water the entire building which is under construction? Whats the big deal in watering?There was a debate and then i said,"Ok, let him go to office. I would do it..."
The next day, all the three of us got up at 3.30 AM. My uncle goes to a temple and then he has to cook for us and then leave to work... I dont know, somehow i didnt get sleep and so I also got up... Started working on my notebook at 4 AM. Wow, amnt I crazy!!!... It was arnd 6 and my grandpa made tea for me and after that we left to the site... Since only 20% of the house was finished, I thought whats the big deal!
The long hosepipe suggested me everything... My dear, this is no easy job... I had to make sure that every inch of every brick in the whole of the building is watered... Thatha(tamil for grandpa) taught me how to do it.. I had to climb on the walls, switch sides, go up, come down!Oof! Wasnt an easy task at all.. What i thought wont take more than 40-45 mins seemed to go on endlessly. Meanwhile, a truckload of sand came and thatha got worried.. Is it the regular guy who supplies the sand or is it someone else!? There were some unused bricks lying in the front and they werent watered properly at all! The water had flown all over the street! So he started scolding people out there for their irresponsibility... There were some unused bricks, or rather half bricks(which they use to fill the gaps) lying all around.. So we both picked it all up and put it inside....
Then he started complaining about the people working there, how they cheat us, etc. etc.. Though it may sound stupid, it all made sense to me... Constructing a house is not an easy task at all...I just spent around 3 hrs there and i can imagine how it would be to go there for the whole 9 months it normally takes to construct a new house... Now that the truck of sand had come, we had to wait till its unloaded fully. Thatha said if we dont stay they wont unload completely and we wud be cheated.. Then, we have to also make sure that the sand is unloaded in such a way that there is enough place for the load of cement that is gonna come later....
For him these were the things that were running through the mind.. For me, the concern was that i shouldnt miss gym and on sunday its open only from 6-10 in the morning.. I thought i would make it.. Whats the big deal in watering the construction!!! Now i know how much difficulty one has to face... What started at 6.30 ended at 9.30 and i missed my gym.. thatha said, "Sorry, you had to miss gym today!".... Its ok thatha... I am actually amazed seeing him.. How a person at 68 years of age can work like this!!!... He single handedly has to observe everything wrt the construction.. (I cant blame my uncle too... he has his own issues...)
Coming back from the site, my whole body was filled with sand and mud.. I started working again...had a late lunch... thatha washed my clothes which had accumulated for 4 weeks now.... I continued working on my notebook... For him, if i dont bring the clothes, its a big issue.. he would start shouting at me.. For me it would look trivial.. He has a bad toothache and had to get removed two of his tooth and he has been postponing it for some time now.. For me thats a big issue, but for him its not.. He wud always come up with some reason... "I was at construction site"... "I had to do tharpanam today"... Think from his side, all these would make sense....
But grandparents are cool, right? They live to love you, nothing else.... They say that people turn back to their childhood once they become old... So keep these "old" children happy.... Thats the lesson for you today, jike.. And one more thing.. There is always the other side of a coin.. So dont take any decision in haste.. Listen carefully to what the other has to say.. Who knows! You might have overloooked what the other person is saying....
The "journey" to my grandpa's house is indeed a big ordeal... Yeah, i am staying in the same city as his, but I stay with my friends here and he and my uncle. So new year day, i started off to his place... I was pretty late.. I told them that i would be there by 11 AM. My uncle had cooked and they were waiting for me and I spent the day in gym, saloon, laundry shop, calling up my friends and finally reached their place at 4.30 in the evening...(Didnt have lunch till then :( ...) So my grandpa serves me my lunch... He is also at the same time getting the house prepared for the Saturday evening sloka session. sloka-->sacred text in praise of the lord... Says, he started this in memory of my late grandmom... You know jike, i loved her a lot... Grandmoms are very special, isnt it? And for her too, I was the pet grandchild for I was her first grandchild... So after my lunch, I sat down for the session... Went for an hour or so.. After a long time, spent so much time with Him... So, it was indeed a different and good "New Year Day" for me...
So, my uncle is a project manager in a software company and so by definition of PM, u know how much time he can spend with family. He is actually constructing a house now and the construction operation is going on in full swing... Once the session got over, my uncle was home and the problem started... My uncle has office on Sunday,ok? He takes off on Fri and Sat. And he leaves pretty early to work too. So the next day(Sunday), if he is leaving to office, whos gonna water the entire building which is under construction? Whats the big deal in watering?There was a debate and then i said,"Ok, let him go to office. I would do it..."
The next day, all the three of us got up at 3.30 AM. My uncle goes to a temple and then he has to cook for us and then leave to work... I dont know, somehow i didnt get sleep and so I also got up... Started working on my notebook at 4 AM. Wow, amnt I crazy!!!... It was arnd 6 and my grandpa made tea for me and after that we left to the site... Since only 20% of the house was finished, I thought whats the big deal!
The long hosepipe suggested me everything... My dear, this is no easy job... I had to make sure that every inch of every brick in the whole of the building is watered... Thatha(tamil for grandpa) taught me how to do it.. I had to climb on the walls, switch sides, go up, come down!Oof! Wasnt an easy task at all.. What i thought wont take more than 40-45 mins seemed to go on endlessly. Meanwhile, a truckload of sand came and thatha got worried.. Is it the regular guy who supplies the sand or is it someone else!? There were some unused bricks lying in the front and they werent watered properly at all! The water had flown all over the street! So he started scolding people out there for their irresponsibility... There were some unused bricks, or rather half bricks(which they use to fill the gaps) lying all around.. So we both picked it all up and put it inside....
Then he started complaining about the people working there, how they cheat us, etc. etc.. Though it may sound stupid, it all made sense to me... Constructing a house is not an easy task at all...I just spent around 3 hrs there and i can imagine how it would be to go there for the whole 9 months it normally takes to construct a new house... Now that the truck of sand had come, we had to wait till its unloaded fully. Thatha said if we dont stay they wont unload completely and we wud be cheated.. Then, we have to also make sure that the sand is unloaded in such a way that there is enough place for the load of cement that is gonna come later....
For him these were the things that were running through the mind.. For me, the concern was that i shouldnt miss gym and on sunday its open only from 6-10 in the morning.. I thought i would make it.. Whats the big deal in watering the construction!!! Now i know how much difficulty one has to face... What started at 6.30 ended at 9.30 and i missed my gym.. thatha said, "Sorry, you had to miss gym today!".... Its ok thatha... I am actually amazed seeing him.. How a person at 68 years of age can work like this!!!... He single handedly has to observe everything wrt the construction.. (I cant blame my uncle too... he has his own issues...)
Coming back from the site, my whole body was filled with sand and mud.. I started working again...had a late lunch... thatha washed my clothes which had accumulated for 4 weeks now.... I continued working on my notebook... For him, if i dont bring the clothes, its a big issue.. he would start shouting at me.. For me it would look trivial.. He has a bad toothache and had to get removed two of his tooth and he has been postponing it for some time now.. For me thats a big issue, but for him its not.. He wud always come up with some reason... "I was at construction site"... "I had to do tharpanam today"... Think from his side, all these would make sense....
But grandparents are cool, right? They live to love you, nothing else.... They say that people turn back to their childhood once they become old... So keep these "old" children happy.... Thats the lesson for you today, jike.. And one more thing.. There is always the other side of a coin.. So dont take any decision in haste.. Listen carefully to what the other has to say.. Who knows! You might have overloooked what the other person is saying....
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