Then and Now

I was washing clothes yesterday. By washing I mean I put the clothes in washing machine, then put in the detergent and switched on the machine. Later put the clothes in drier, and I was done.

This lead me to think of how I used to get clothes washed in Trichy. Those were some fun times!! Had to wash a bunch of clothes myself as we couldn't afford BHEL rates for them. So we used to pick up the clothes, detergent, bucket and a mug and start the manual process of washing the clothes. It used to be quite an effort. Then put them on a wire to dry them. Clip them so that they don't fly away!! Even when giving the clothes to BHEL, we had to sort out the clothes to be given. Walk all the way to the bus-stand outside the college (used to be quite a trek!). Then wait for bus in ths sun. While coming back too get in some bus crowded with people of all kinds. Then experience the strange mix of smells of liqour/sweat/vegetables etc that was bound to open any closed nose :-).. Anyway fight with the conductor to stop the bus at REC. Sometimes jump from the running bus. Then go back to BHEL once again to get the clothes back. Wow!! I had never imagined at that time that life could get as easy as it is now. But then, whats the fun in easy?