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Lord of Mundane Things

by Geetashree Chatterjee
(New Delhi)


This is a grand motherly tale......


Weekends are generally spent in a whirlwind swish- finishing all the unfinished chores, cooking, cleaning, washing, drying, dusting, fussing over my pet, taking care of my mother and last but not the least getting prepared for the next five working days. Last Sunday, it was bad!!!! The day before, i.e. on Saturday, water supply played truant. As a result, all work got stalled and carried over to Sunday. To top it all, my maid took leave without prior notice. A tornado of chores ensued which did not calm down till the late hours of the night. Hard work becomes a drudgery if intercepted by disappointments. That was exactly what happened when before going to bed I checked the curd kept to set on the fridge and found the milk drooling at me. But by that time I was too exhausted to commence a repair job and just let it be thinking sometimes curd had its own eccentricity and took time to accept its own mould.

As the lids drooped on the cheeks, a worry struck and sleep bolted out of the window. I rushed out of bed straight to the fridge - the vegetable rack was empty as I had apprehended! What would I cook tomorrow? Mismanagement to the extreme! But it was past twelve and even if I had sung a tragic lore, holding the branch of the nearest imaginary tree, aka filmy style, no sabziwallah would have materialized out of the blue, with his vegetable cart, in the dead of the night.. So I opted for the best i.e. retire to bed.

In the morning, half awake ( in true sense of the term - only the left eye opened/right eye still glued), I uncovered the lid and found the curd happily swinging to an unheard tune. Angrily I put it to boil till the water got separated and chunks of homegrown cheese giggled at me ready to be scrambled with onions and tomatoes, sprinkled with a mouthwatering garnish! My meal of the day was ready!

So, what's so great about it? Daily household trivia?


But the manner in which the events of the morning and the day previous unfurled stirred a thought. Had the curd set in time from where would I have got my cheese? And who told the curd not to set whenI had been doing it routinely almost everyday for so many years without a flaw? Every nano moment in this Universe is so premeditated, I being just a minuscule dot in the whole game plan ! And whose game plan is it by the way?

The sages, the seers have for ages endeavoured to find the ultimate answer to these labyrinthine questions which lead to one another with the ever elusive reply finding an escape route every time the snare readies itself to clutch it unaware at the very next step!

Nevertheless the nagging doubt poked and persisted..........it must be Him! Who else will have every tick of a nano second in his grip and count? But the Omnipresent and the Omniscient who observes and absorbs all unnoticed.

It just took an unsettled curd for an ordinary, homely woman to perceive His Handiwork in the myriad mundane which the wise men have taken aeons to gather from the infinity.

As the first rays of dawn bleached the sky, I bowed my head to my God of Mundane Things! I was contented to be the microscopic punctuation in His Larger Scheme of Arrangements which might or might not be fathomable or graspable to the limited perceptions of a closeted lesser mortal like me.

I whispered my gratitude quietly!


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Feb 10, 2012
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A pleasant surprise!
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

To find you here, Virat, the inspiration of tomorrow! Thanks for your esteemed comment. It means a lot to me.

Feb 08, 2012
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Aesthetic elegance
by: Virat Nehru

Geetaji,

Mathurji invited me to his page and told me that you wrote here as well.

I love how you combine the aesthetic and first person narrative into a perfect potpourri (if a potpourri can ever be perfect, that is). It gives the feel of an unfolding narrative and really takes the viewer on a journey with you, the author, at the helm. That’s quite remarkable!

Virat

Apr 01, 2011
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A NOTE OF THANKS
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

Omji, thankful for your prompt visit. I take this opportunity to thank you for this wonderful spiritual classic in which I am immersed these day. Thanks once again.

Apr 01, 2011
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A NOTE OF THANKS
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

Thank you very much Sneha for your wonderful comment. Divine is manifest in the most mundane of our day to day activities. We just have to open our eyes and see it.

Apr 01, 2011
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Lord of Mundane Things
by: Sneha

Beautiful work, Geetashree. One of the best from you.

Apr 01, 2011
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lord of all things
by: om prakash narayan

Geetaji, I could only remember the wonderful lines in Autobiography of the Yogi (am quoting from memory, so, if any mistakes, pl excuse) where Sri Yoganandaji says, "The Lord does not distinguish between important and unimportant, lest for want of a pin, the cosmos collapse!"

Apr 01, 2011
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LORD OF MUNDANE THINGS
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

Lakshmi, your encouraging words have come right in time when I was feeling a bit low. Thanks a lot. I mean it. Regards

Mar 31, 2011
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Enjoyed reading it!
by: Lakshmi

Hi Geeta,
You have showed us how our mundane tasks too can tell their own stories, which often go unnoticed, through your article. I enjoyed reading it!

Mar 28, 2011
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A NOTE OF THANKS
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

I am glad that my words could make you hungry for more. Thanks a lot for reading and appreciating.

Mar 27, 2011
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beautiful written words made me hungry too!
by: isabel


Beautiful written words and vision of curdled cheese with tomatoes...mmm... me hungry too!

Mar 26, 2011
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A NOTE OF THANKS
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

Divine perception in the mundane.....philosophical, had to be indeed! Thanks for reading and commenting!

Mar 26, 2011
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Breezy Philosophy
by: vimala ramu

An otherwise breezy narration unexpectedly ending in a philosophical realisation. But your style is getting lighter and I liked it,Geetha.

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