Random Thoughts

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do and you've done it”.

Last couple of weekends, I was extremely busy around the house – for two reasons: 1) D and Ruby were gone to India and with the sub-zero temperature outside, it was getting very depressing to remain closed up inside the house and I had to keep myself busy to cure the depression, and 2) There actually were scores of things to be done around.

I installed the sump pump, fixed defective lamps and concealed cables to the basement home theater. But, the one job that brought immense satisfaction was the installation of two sets of recessed lights in the family room. The whole work extended over two weeks. It involved drilling six 6” holes on the ceiling, installation of a new switch and relocation of a switch box.

I spent almost 5 hours (in installments) in the attic wearing the dust mask and doing the monkey walk to make sure I don’t come crashing down through the ceiling. I had worked in the attic before, installing speaker wires and the antenna, but this was pretty intense. At one point, I had to lie on my tummy to connect the lights at the shallow end of the attic. After about 30 minutes of working like that, I started feeling the urge to go insane out of claustrophobia and I had to rush out and down the ladder, cursing. After a while, I started getting used to the solitude and the semi-darkness. There were times when I would sit up to catch breath and look around:

Laser swords of varying lengths created by narrow sun light streaks, turbine caps on the roof creating alternating light effects, and unsettled dust created a spooky yet relaxing effect. It felt like déjà vu. It brought back childhood memories of climbing up to the attic in my Perumbavoor home and hiding in a place that was my own. It was during those moments of solitude that I would become Edmund Dantés and later transform myself into The Count of Monte Christo, or become Ali Baba of the 1001 nights.

The noise of the world not far away, but at a safe distance and the feeling that you are alone and at a place where no one else can bother you, arouses that rare feeling of spiritual unleashing. It is the feeling that everyone needs once in a while. Who would imagine that one can find that kind of freedom in a seemingly unromantic place like the attic?

And, at the end of the day, as Margaret Thatcher said, that feeling of “supreme satisfaction of having done all you have had to do”!
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