Waging a war

Snape might call it cleaning work but really, we are waging a war against the house of black, which is getting blacker by the day - Sirius' statement to Harry in the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5) is the best statement to describe my house cleaning activities for the past few days. My mother and I set out to do the impossible - clean our house! We started with the room which I share with my brother and as one can imagine, it took us two days to get the room back in shape! As a law student, I had bought every book that I set my eye on and I regret buying half of them! Not because they cost me a lot but there is no one to use them now. Most of these books relate to municipal (national) laws and are absolutely useless, save when I need to consult the Motor Vehicles Act or the Banking/Negotiable Instruments Act to advise neighbours/friends/relatives who get into trouble. Amidst all these I found the book that I was looking for - an old tattered Constitution of India, which bears my uncle (a legend in constitutional law)'s handwriting. "It tolled for none after it did for Chief Justice Marshall - the Liberty bell" - his favourite quote about how the liberty bell never tolled after it did for one last time during the funeral procession of CJ Marshall, the man who said Constitution was above everyone, in Marbury v. Madison. The book brought in nostalgic memories of the initial days in law school where we had the fervour to protect, preserve and uphold the Constitution. How do we feel about it now - the less said the better. After rearranging the books and covering up the places on the wall where the paint was peeling off with pictures of babies, we moved to attack the hall.

My mother is obsessed with the prizes that my brother and I have acquired. She kept scrubbing every single silver plate and medal with a solution (top secret : no one on earth can prepare something similar to that!) that she prepares all by herself. We brought down all the pictures on the wall and art de facts in the show case - god, they looked like they were out from a ruin! The pictures had a minimum of an inch of dust on them! What living in a polluted city could do is best realised when u start cleaning your house. It took us one whole day to clean these pictures and arrange the medals, prizes and those little pieces of conversation in the showcase. My mother kept fussing over these and had to arrange and rearrange them thrice before she was finally contented! Meanwhile, I set out to dust the windows and other things in the room, with this oh-so-cute fluffy (turquoise blue) duster. It is an object of wonder, man, can it clean! It weasels in and out of (even circular) objects and leaves them dust free! Once that was done, I decorated the windows with flowers, did a small floral decoration in water in an earthen pot that I had bought in Dhaka (when I was there for the Human Rights Summer School) and placed it before my mother's favourite picture - that of the Mother. On went the lacy covers over the sofa, tables, fridge and every other object. We carried out the same procedure with the verandah (more flowers :) and as for my dad's room - it is a no-entry zone, which I still braved to clean just the dining table (my mom bought these lovely table mats and coasters, the table looks so beautiful now!).

My brother had a nice comment at the end of the day - I don't like this house any more, it looks too good! What did my dad have to say - this is not my house, I never have flowers! Dads! :)