Me & My Washing Machine!

How our dear washing machine has become an indispensable part of our lives.  Though semi-automatic, it always makes our lives simple (I can’t even imagine our condition if all that work had to be done manually)!

However, it irritates us in two situations

• It makes disturbing and unbearable noises if we overload it (probably even by one cloth also), and the stubborn thing won’t stop unless we open again, take out the extra ones, and restart.
• If we use it consistently for hours, it gets heated up and stops. We then need to stop our operation for some time and resume it later.

Although I must admit, amidst all these shenanigans, it never compromises on the quality of its work. When it works, it works fully, giving its full and delivering the best results.

Yes! At times, I get pissed off at its tantrums. But deep down, I know these aren’t tantrums; these are genuine demands and a very justified way of asking for them when these are unmet.

I also know that I and maybe many others like me have the ‘washing machine demands,’ but not the ‘washing machine guts!’

We would be tired and exhausted, we would have had enough, we would be overloaded, we would be a misfit, we would be in pain, but we would never speak out. Instead, we’d rather compromise on our life and work quality; but would consider going on (possibly accompanied by some cribbing, yet going on).

Would it hurt to?

• Take a break every now and then to restore yourself, rather than ultimately yourself breakdown (small intervals even of 30 minutes would do, every time I use the word break I don’t want you to go on a trip :))
• Speak out if there is a problem or there is something wrong. No boss would fire you if you bring out your valid concerns (and if they do, then you might need to rethink what you are doing!), after all, I did not fire my washing machine 🙂 (as all the machines would do so)
• This brings me to the third point – all washing machines would do so! But will all of us do so? Will we stand with each other during challenging times? How many of us will stand by our colleague who is willing to talk to the manager about something unjust happening? Or will we be too busy buttering our boss?

Taking the work environment just as an example, these situations can and do apply to many life scenarios.

A little space and time is all we demand! And we must ask for it!

Avani Raj Arora