Hey! Someone Just Bought a New House
Before you read this blog post, you could take a quick look at this table that quantifies decibel levels of common sounds. This interesting chart will tell you that a jet engined aircraft takes off at a 150 decibels and normal conversation happens at about 60 decibels, while the refrigerator produces 50 decibels of noise while you are having that conversation.
What happened last Friday?
Just like any other day, I got back home from work and spent the evening with my kids. I also took out some time and chatted up with my father. By ten o clock the babies had slept and dad had turned off the TV, taking the sound levels at my home to that text book 40 decibels. I was hungry and I asked the wife if dinner was ready yet. She nodded in the affirmative and briskly walked towards the kitchen. I sat down at the dinner table and rubbed my palms together quickly in anticipation of my plate full of food. And then I heard it.
On regular days, when the wife places my food plate on the table, it makes a very soft 'clunk' sound followed by a light grinding noise that the plate makes as it rubs against the table; that is the wife making the final adjustment to perfectly place the dinner plate for me (I love the way you do things. Thank you baby.)
But Friday night the plate came down with a loud 'clunk'. You could say it was more 'thud' than 'clunk'. That was enough to tell me that this was no ordinary dinner. I sat up straight and looked down at the food. I was more alert now. In less than a minute, ten years of data for the 'plate set with a thud' event was summoned in my head and three possibilities emerged;
1. Bad day at the office?
"How was your day at work honey?", I gently asked. The delicious daal quickly disappearing as I spoke.
"It was good. I hired some new people for the bossman and he seems happy with the HR team", she curtly replied, not taking her eyes off the spoon she was eating with.
No bad day at the office.
2. Disagreement on an issue with her mother in law?
This second possibility was a tricky one to confirm, so I approached this with extreme caution.
"The food is amazing baby. Isn't it? I wonder how you manage to do so much and make it look so easy", I smiled and asked while my mind took up brace position, ready for impact.
"I didn't get time to do anything today Rahul. Your mom made all of this. What would I do without her?", she answered back.
No impact.
3. Someone we/ she know(s) bought a new house?
"What is bothering you then, baby? You don't seem to be happy", I said, pulling another butter paratha out of the hot case.
"Are we going to live in your dad's house forever? The kids are growing up. There is no space for them. My room is small. That wardrobe I needed to organize my things is still on the drawing board......", it continued way past this paratha and the next one. And dessert too.
Bingo. Congratulations on that new house dear friend. I don't know who you are but you deserve all the credit in the world for being able to buy your own house. And you know what? I am going to be joining that hallowed home owner's club pretty soon. I tell myself this every time such a day comes. Just that the wife doesn't believe me anymore. And with my last pair of shoes struggling against the unforgiving summer, sometimes, neither do I.
Happy house warming, dost.
Rahul Mishra
Feel free to connect with Rahul on LinkedIn by following that link.
What happened last Friday?
Just like any other day, I got back home from work and spent the evening with my kids. I also took out some time and chatted up with my father. By ten o clock the babies had slept and dad had turned off the TV, taking the sound levels at my home to that text book 40 decibels. I was hungry and I asked the wife if dinner was ready yet. She nodded in the affirmative and briskly walked towards the kitchen. I sat down at the dinner table and rubbed my palms together quickly in anticipation of my plate full of food. And then I heard it.
On regular days, when the wife places my food plate on the table, it makes a very soft 'clunk' sound followed by a light grinding noise that the plate makes as it rubs against the table; that is the wife making the final adjustment to perfectly place the dinner plate for me (I love the way you do things. Thank you baby.)
But Friday night the plate came down with a loud 'clunk'. You could say it was more 'thud' than 'clunk'. That was enough to tell me that this was no ordinary dinner. I sat up straight and looked down at the food. I was more alert now. In less than a minute, ten years of data for the 'plate set with a thud' event was summoned in my head and three possibilities emerged;
1. Bad day at the office?
"How was your day at work honey?", I gently asked. The delicious daal quickly disappearing as I spoke.
"It was good. I hired some new people for the bossman and he seems happy with the HR team", she curtly replied, not taking her eyes off the spoon she was eating with.
No bad day at the office.
2. Disagreement on an issue with her mother in law?
This second possibility was a tricky one to confirm, so I approached this with extreme caution.
"The food is amazing baby. Isn't it? I wonder how you manage to do so much and make it look so easy", I smiled and asked while my mind took up brace position, ready for impact.
"I didn't get time to do anything today Rahul. Your mom made all of this. What would I do without her?", she answered back.
No impact.
3. Someone we/ she know(s) bought a new house?
"What is bothering you then, baby? You don't seem to be happy", I said, pulling another butter paratha out of the hot case.
"Are we going to live in your dad's house forever? The kids are growing up. There is no space for them. My room is small. That wardrobe I needed to organize my things is still on the drawing board......", it continued way past this paratha and the next one. And dessert too.
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| This beautiful image appears on thetimes.co.uk courtesy Andrew Paterson/ Getty Images. |
Happy house warming, dost.
Rahul Mishra
Feel free to connect with Rahul on LinkedIn by following that link.
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