gadgets and life ! - when becomes useless - get thrown out !!

Wash away the dirt !  keep impurities away – be clean .. ..  in every faith there is the concept of washing away one’s sins !! – cleansing the mistakes of the past and stand good before God.    Physical bathing washes away dirt;  washing off clothes removes dirt - when we are spiritually bathed, our sins are washed away .  Do you remember the last time, you washed your own clothes ?? – and how ?? 

நமது அகமும் புறமும் ஒன்றோடு ஒன்று இணைந்தவை.  அகத்தை சுத்தம் செய்ய வேண்டும் என்றால், புறத்தை சுத்தம் செய்ய வேண்டும். நாம் எப்போதும் சுத்தமாக இருக்க வேண்டும்.  ஆசாரக் கோவை புறத் தூய்மை பற்றி பேசுகிறது.  உண்ணும் உணவில், உடுக்கும் உடையில் இருக்கிறது நம் கலாச்சாரம், பண்பாடு.  இந்த பழமொழியை பலமுறை கேட்டு இருப்பீர்கள் !

கூழானாலும் குளித்துக் குடி, கந்தையானாலும் கசக்கிக் கட்டு

முன்ன ஒரு காலத்துல மக்கள் தாங்கள் உடுத்திய துணிமணிகளை ! கல்லில் அடித்து அழுக்கு போக தோய்த்து வந்தனர்.  வாய்க்கால்கள், ஆறுகள், குளங்கள், கண்மாய், ஏரிகள், போன்ற நீர்நிலைகள்  அருகிலும், வீட்டு புழக்கடையில் ஒரு பெரிய அகலமான கல் இருக்கும்.  துணிகளை நன்றாக நனைத்து, சோப்பு போட்டு கல்லில் அடித்து துவைப்பார்கள் !!    அந்த காலங்களில்  ரேடியோவில் கேட்ட ஒரு விளம்பரம் - "பொன் வண்டு  பார் சோப்பு"  !! 

We have become slaves to many things….the city man cannot live without many gadgets  … and there are no alternatives…  Geysers, Pressure cookers, Gas stoves, LPG cylinders, microwave oven, mineral water, washing machine, inverter, air-conditioners, cell phones – cell phone chargers, automobiles, elevators  – all are basic requirements and people will feel like fish out of water, if for a few minutes there is no charge in the mobile phone…. Gizmos and technology is welcome … but not addiction and abuse ….

 

A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and is performed by specialist businesses) or ultrasonic cleaners. The user adds laundry detergent, which is sold in liquid, powder, or dehydrated sheet form, to the wash water. 

Laundering by hand involves soaking, beating, scrubbing, and rinsing dirty textiles. Removal of soap and water from the clothing after washing was a separate process. First, soap would be rinsed out with clear water. After rinsing, the soaking wet clothing would be formed into a roll and twisted by hand to extract water and sometimes smashed on a rock. The entire process often occupied an entire day of hard work, plus drying and ironing. 

The first English patent under the category of washing machines was in 1691.  A drawing of an early washing machine appeared in the January 1752 issue of The Gentleman's Magazine, a British publication. Jacob Christian Schäffer's washing machine design was published in 1767 in Germany. One of the first innovations in washing machine technology was the use of enclosed containers or basins that had grooves, fingers, or paddles to help with the scrubbing and rubbing of the clothes. The person using the washer would use a stick to press and rotate the clothes along the textured sides of the basin or container, agitating the clothes to remove dirt and mud.  This crude agitator technology was hand-powered, but still more effective than actually hand-washing the clothes. 

War presented problems aplenty and one was availability of water. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, US domestic washer production was suspended for the duration of World War II in favour of manufacturing war material. However, numerous US appliance manufacturers were permitted to undertake the research and development of washers during the war years. Many took the opportunity to develop automatic machines, realizing that these represented the future of the industry.

 

Life keeps sending you subtle warnings throughout ! – be it a washing machine or a gadget, they all come with limited shell-life and once over, they are consigned to dust, scrapped and uncared for.  They may not fetch reasonable value on disposal. Modern world keeps people too consigned to a corner, or sent out of home – neglected, unwanted and no one hearing them or talking to them.

 

Life’s  message are crude and harsh but are stark realities !! something very crucial would at some point time become waste and meaningless !!  Once scrapped and kept in a heap, none cares to know what it was earlier – a washing machine, a computer cabinet, vacuum cleaner or anything else – so also don’t ask the Q – do you know who I am and what I was ??  - none cares !!! 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
12.4.2023