Do Things Around Us Speak? | Let Us Hear Them!
Have you ever thought that objects around us might speak? Have you ever thought, that pillow lying on the bed or slippers resting on the floor or that tangled earphone on a table or half squeezed toothpaste might inspire us? One day I thought to switch off my internet who always keeps me engaged in random Instagram posts, weird memes, fake news, forwarded WhatsApp messages and listen to the conversation of my routine valuables. And you won’t believe, it was interesting like anything that I can’t resist to share my experience with you.
It was one of that weekend’s morning, my phone started to beep, I snoozed it, hugged my pillow tightly to sleep again. Finally, after five snoozes, still rubbing my eyes, I noticed dismantled pillow with some of my spit on it. My pillow whispered to me “Good morning. Last night, you snored at high pitch after sobbing heavily. You seemed to be stressed but after hugging me, tossing your head from right to left, digging deep into me, you were asleep. Maybe that constant buzzes of your phone or looped thoughts to win the ever-increasing rat race don’t let your mind to rest so every night you try to share your emotions with me.” That time I realised that my pillow is a keeper who remains beside me to feel overflowing tears and waves of laughter without even judging, supporting to sleep and pumping energy for another day. After the heartwarming realisation, I got up from bed to search for my slippers.
Finally, I found them at the other corner of the room hiding behind the table. My slippers seemed to be a little scared but after cheerfully moving here and there with me, they said “ We love exploring your house but your weight seems to be increasing day by day. We don’t have any problem in keeping you safe from water spill in the washroom, peel offs near the dustbin and from those slimy creatures crawling in monsoon. We know lockdown is going on but you can add yoga or skipping or dancing in your schedule to not gain a few more pounds which might end up in replacing us.” At that moment, I realised when they are bearing so much for me, I should not disappoint them. I smiled and thought of adding 30 minutes of exercising in my day’s planner. After having a round of my home, I moved towards the basin to grab my toothpaste.
I noticed that half squeezed toothpaste trying to stand high in that holder. I pulled it out, squeezed a bit on my toothbrush and noticed some weird expressions of toothpaste. I asked about the matter but he just pleaded me to get done with my bad breath of morning. After a few minutes, he said, “Ah! Finally, you are safe for the world. Every morning, you smell so stale that I have to hold my nose to freshen up your breath. I always try to understand your ever-changing food habits but ends up in finding something new in your mouth. It is perfectly fine that you are foodie, love to try every cuisine you can but why can’t you brush before sleep! I have to struggle so hard in the morning while killing germs, cleaning the leftover of night and also turning your breaths vibrant.” I never thought that toothpaste, who loses bit by bit, struggle so hard to keep my breath alive till the last stroke. That morning, I noted down to download a mobile app that could track my food habits for a week, can plan healthy for next week and can remind me to brush before resting to bed every night. After keeping it back in the holder with the company of my brush, I opened the cupboard below the basin to use my handwash.
Ah! It was proudly leading the gang of bottles having face wash, shaving cream, hair oil, moisturizer, positioned in front of everything. Amid the pandemic, it becomes necessary to wash our hands for 20 seconds every two hours. With a few drops of water and gel-like lotion, I rubbed my hands, produced the froth and finally splashed water on my hands. While I was drying with a towel, the bottle of handwash looked at me and said “ I am thankful to COVID that you start washing your hands. You used to stink with a combination of peel offs of veggies, fouling socks, droplets of desk cleaner and also with trapped spices in your nails along with a variety of microbial creatures. But now I don’t have to struggle hard to kill 99.9% of germs and making your hands virus free. Please keep up this habit of cleaning your hands before and after everything, even when the Corona will be gone.” I never thought that handwash can act as a saviour one day, and it can protect me from the zombie crisis. I thanked him and vowed not to forget washing my hands even after the COVID. Then, I went into my room to search for earphones to listen to the playlist I made last week.
Sneaking my half cleaned table, underneath the bed, near my bookshelves, when I sat down to think where they are, I noticed them hiding behind the curtains urging me to play with them. I extended my hand to grab the tangled earphones. After some unlooping and moving wires from here and there, I managed to sort them out. Finally getting the sigh of relief of being untwisted, they said “ We love playing with your fingers as they always manage to untangle while making us laugh. But we don’t understand that how can you always be so lost in the cross wires of thoughts and ignore the reasons to smile (which is not even difficult!). We feel that if you can manage to release us from the shackles of knots, you can easily tackle any situation of your life. Or even if you can’t, you can sit back and enjoy the tunes of your favourite songs with us and start afresh” The non-messy earphones inspired me at that moment. I thought about their words and my complicated tangled life. I smiled, felt charged up, plugged them into my phone and started to enjoy my playlist, thinking that I can relish the tunes of my life and will at least have a day off in the month (without internet) to listen to the things around me.
