Cleaning is Art

This spark flew to me today, when I was cleaning the whiteboard at home. Some months ago, after watching the movie Deadpool, my son – so impressed by the character Deadpool, made a drawing on the whiteboard using a black-whiteboard-marker pen. It came out very well and so me and wife, did not feel like wiping it for so many months. Today, I thought of writing something on the board and so wanted to clean it up. With son’s go ahead, I started cleaning this long left mark. Firstly, tried with Colin, which did some cleaning, but soon ran out of stock. Then started using soap water, which wasn’t easy at all. But, I was not the one to accept defeat. Started wiping – running hard with fingers on every stripe; stripe-by-stripe, moving on from one corner to another, at a slow and steady pace; without a trace of a black or grey. It took me nearly an hour to clean up the board and when it was done- spic and span – I got a sense of triumph. Why am I making it a big deal of such a small sunday-chore.  Read on..

Eye for detail is an important aspect of any fine-art. Unless we have this, be sure, nothing can be ‘clean’.  Thats reason enough for me to call it Art.  For instance, being an ambitious type, I observe cobwebs and marks on the walls and wall-hangings, or higher, more easily than my wife. I feel very uncomfortable if I happen to see anything dirty or unfitting in this range. Being a grounded and down-to-earth person, she needs the floor-tiles and everything upto the waist-line* clean [this waistline is not around the person, but the level of the waist when we stand up and draw a line on the wall, in line with our waist]. Probably, that is because of the fact that she wants everything that is in the reach of children – to be cleaner than any other.  We sure, have a great eye for detail at our respective view points. 

As bachelor, I would willingly do any number of rounds to the market and any amount of cutting of vegetables. But, once finished with eating, I am not for the dish-washing, it used to be the most unpleasant moment.  You must see some friends, who take it up so well, done so neatly, clean and dry. Hats off to them. Needless to say, now that I am married, I have changed [extent of change will be endorsed by my wife only]. 

I have a friend, who, so religiously cleans up his bike and car, every Sunday. You should watch him at this work; especially when he is nearly done, puffing up from his mouth and wipe the last signs of moisture on the surfaces, even trying to see his face in the reflection. What a great bliss to see him after the cleaning is done.  For him that is the Picasso touch, in the real sense.

There is another friend of mine, who is now a senior officer in the Indian Air Force, whom I admire for his do-it-yourself streak. The scene that occurs to me when I think about him is that of his cleaning of household. I had gone for lunch to his home once, after I washed my hands and mouth in the wash basin, while we were chatting, he went back to wash basin and was cleaning the insides with bare hands. He was preventing the droplets from becoming stains; and wiping with dry cloth. This man continues to do this Art-work on every Sunday, or whenever he finds himself off-duty. Too much for a person of my kind, who had always been pampered – for this dirty art-work to be done by the ladies in the house; mother, sisters, wife.  

Even during the earlier days of parenting, I was so averse to go near the soiled sheets of my offspring.  
Thankfully, lot of these things have changed now. I find myself as a growing Artist, with more tolerance, patience and detailing than before. Working on the week-off days on something or the other, maybe to earn some brownie points from my wife.  I also come across people, who despite their affluence, do take up this Art of Cleaning as an important To-Do of the week. Some consider this very engaging, and a thorough stress-buster.  

Soon, we may find some weekend classes teaching us the nuances, such as what kind of mops to use, what strokes will be more efficient, what materials are  eco/user-friendly, what music goes well with it, how frequently and much more on the Art-of-Cleaning.