Lazy Afternoons

A lazy afternoon and listless mind made me to visually survey the room from where I was trying to unsuccessfully fight a war with ennui. The first glance fell on the roof, as it required minimal body movement. I did not want to sacrifice the comfort of a well cushioned sofa.

The inventory came to  cobwebs in assorted shapes, dust coated light bulbs and fan blades. The ceiling fan had four blades and cursed myself for selecting that in the first place.

Not liking the reminder on pending works from the roof, I shifted my gaze to the two corners of the wall, just in front of me which again required little effort. Surprisingly the corner on the right hand side had no reminder to send and somehow had managed to be free of cobwebs at least.

Feeling a bit elated, I ventured to have a look at the second corner but it chose to deflate my happiness balloons I had just floated. A confused mass of wires meant for telephone and DTH, each of them sporting a noose as if ready to hang in shame for my laziness greeted me derisively.The wires had a point: I had let them to dangle and act as aerial dust bins.

Continuing with my least energy expenditure policy, I gave a once over at the left and right side walls of the room. The roof and the left side corner of the front wall have already signed a pact with the walls being looked at by me. The visuals I got from the side walls were depressing.

Like an extremely stressed person drawing on the last ounce of energy and courage, I stood in front of the fourth wall, so far hidden behind my back, to complete the inspection whatever may be the outcome.

An oily halo, wherever I have rested my head, wire running to my makeshift reading lamp and the usual gathering of dust were all there to greet me (or mock at me?). 

Suddenly I remembered this line: ‘every day starts with a ‘now’ and ends with a ‘then’!

A new fountain head of energy coursed through my mind and body, sweeping away the laziness. I found a pen and started to capture the thoughts at that moment. Though the attempt needed a thorough revision, I was satisfied with my outpouring.

Any one suffering with boredom on a lazy afternoon, like what I endured, is welcome to help me with the revision. Who knows it might help you to chase away the boredom of a lazy afternoon!

Another lazy afternoon:

I have found out to my dismay that these lazy afternoons have no holidays. This was a rude awakening as I had been consigning them to only Sundays and national holidays.

Confronted with the task of passing the intervening hours from lunch to sunset, my mind went into a tizzy as it was like a genie out of the magic lamp, demanding work. This left me in a fix since I had no plans for such an eventuality.None of the pending works, begging for completion, interested me thus compounding the misery on this lazy afternoon.

All of a sudden, a spider dangling from the roof caught my eyes. The Sherlock Holmes in me wiped the palms together in glee. What will be a better bargain than the mysterious appearance of a spider in the room?

The solution to the mystery lay in the answers I set out to find:  “where from it came, why and when? How come it escaped my attention, so far?

I set to unravel the mystery where it could have come from? It took the best part of half an hour to inspect for openings through which the spider could have ambled in to the room. There were no opened windows or doors, thanks to my habit of locking down everything when thy air conditioner is on. Further efforts produced a viable clue – DTH cable entry! I spent some more time to confirm the possibility of that insect slipping through this tiny opening. May be was the conclusion.

Not to be left behind, the ‘why’ and ‘when’ were impatiently waiting for resolution, which I promptly complied with.I suspected that the roof must be an important link in this affair and accordingly looked for hidden clues to solve this ‘why’ mystery.  The roof must have been kindly remembering my act of personally painting it to give a fresh look. In that process all its old scars have vanished as if a cosmetic surgery has been carried out. It blurted out the story of mosquitoes residing there, without valid permission. The ‘why’ has been answered!

The ‘when’ stumped me like a ‘nicked’ ball sticking itself to the wicket-keeper's glove, refusing to get spilled, to end a batsman’s tenure at the crease!

This is when I recollected my act of omission committed during the last week: I had left the doors open for awhile (a good part of the day) to allow fresh air and sunlight to come in and forgot to close them later. Alas!The mystery was dissolving like a bank of summer cloud – threatening to develop in to a thunderstorm and ending up in a whimper!

Engrossed in solving the case of the errant spider, I did not notice the passage of time. A look at the clock startled me;I could not even see the hands on its face and from the angry growling of my stomach, I could easily guess it was dinner time.

Along with the evaporated mystery of the spider, my lazy afternoon had also vanished. I trudged along to the dining table, feeling happy to have made Mr. Sherlock Holmes a little proud, of course posthumously. 

In my reminiscence, I almost heard him whisper “plug the hole you have made for the cable entry or you will have another spider in the room”.