Importance of the mundane

Old sayings abound of how the ordinary and the mundane are ignored for the more exotic until that day when suddenly they disappear from your life. And that’s when you stop, look around and then get into acute agony over the loss.

Recently I have had two such incidents which brought this fact home to me.

The first was sudden loss of hearing in my right ear soon after my flight took off from Bangalore. I was travelling on work and alone and having my hearing reduced by half and me trying to lip read and second guessing people feels funny now but then it was quite an ordeal.

In Delhi I waited for a couple of days hoping the blockage would go off on its own. It didn’t and then a visit to an ENT specialist gave the scary news of fluid buildup inside my ear drums which if medicines didn’t help might need surgery also.

Suddenly something which till now I had laughed off as a stupid irritant grew to worrying proportions. As the medicines continued for the next two weeks I suffered from partial deafness. With a job that includes picking up the phone a zillion times in the day and driving atleast 100 plus kms I was in acute discomfort.

Thankfully after a fortnight of medication the blockage has partially opened up and I feel almost human.

The second incident was the restoration of a bedroom to me.

Three months back my in laws had to suddenly shift in with us as my father in law had suffered a cerebral stroke. Since our home had only two furnished bedrooms and one was already occupied by my mom and daughter we shifted them into what used to be my bedroom.

My father in law was very ill then and for the first two weeks or so thoughts of our own room or a bit of privacy didn’t enter our life as we tried to balance work, child, household and visits to the hospital.

However even after my father in law got better one thing or the other ensured that three months rolled by before we could figure out a way to furnish the third bedroom and use it.

Having got repossession of a bedroom to myself again after three months cant tell you how rich I am feeling right now. J

Nothing like losing the ordinary to understand its extraordinary relevance in our lives.

(The flower pic actually has nothing to do with this post. I just felt it looked nice and wanted to share)