The longest day of my life (so far!)

Phew! Let me take a breath. It’s been the most hectic day of my life. 10th July 2008. It started at 6am. I haven’t seen the rising sun for months! But this time I had no choice, I had to be up early. Not to jog or take the dog out for a stroll, but to ‘pack’! Yes, we had to pack up cuz we were moving from our present home. Anyone who had shifted houses might know how gruesome the work would be. Moreover, my dad being a bank employee, we have to shift places every three years. The last time we shifted was after my 12th standard. But then, the ‘packing’ never seemed so hard, cuz we had the hands of our relatives. This was different. Packing up to leave to our native place- Thrissur. No “packers and movers”, just us! The week long packing had to end today, for today evening, the truck was scheduled to arrive, to load our stuff and set off to Thrissur.

Most of the smaller things – utensils, boxes, books- were packed beforehand to make the work easier. But we made the mistake of leaving all the monster things for the last day. These included 4 wooden beds, refrigerator, steel shelf, sofa and a 68 kilo washing machine! As always, preparations go on until the last minute no matter how early one starts the anticipation and planning. In fact, the truck was arranged and finalized on the evening of the day of departure. The kitchen utensils and the stove were also packed which meant no more homely food, all the ‘two-and-a-half’ meals we had were bought from a nearby restaurant. It can be really disgusting if your brand new Pioneer Car stereo goes dead on the day you are planning for a long trip. We’d installed a new Nokia Car Mobile Charger the previous day of the departure. On the morning of the day of leaving, the cigarette lighter got malfunctioned and the fuse got burnt. There was not a minute to spare and this happened on the very auspicious of days! My brother and I rushed to the service centre and got it fixed, they replaced it with a new connection and fuse. Back to packing. It was the turn of the bigger, heavier ones. First in line was the steel almirah. The mirror was covered with a few layers of news papers and cardboard cutouts. It was not a big task to wrap up the almirah. But the pain came when it was the turn of the washing machine. There were only my dad, brother and I to lift up this goddamned ‘thing’ out from its platform onto the floor. It was after covering its edges that we realized the cardboard cover for it was all shattered, which meant we had to find something else to wrap it up. It too is new and we did not wish to compromise on its safety. There was a lot to do despite packing, which included transferring the Cooking Gas connection, some bank transactions and a little bit of shopping. By the time we were busy making plans, it was already noon. After the things with bank and Gas connection was done, I went off to the market in search of some cheap sack cloth to cushion the sofa and washing machine. I bought a few rolls of sack cloth, loaded it into the car and went home. The sacking up started, literally, with the sofa. Then followed the washing machine. This monster was one hell of a thing. It took all the three of us over thirty minutes to pack him up. We were running against the clock. It’s been a week since all of us have slept properly and I hoped it would all end today. After the biggest of them all was packed, it was time to unlock the wooden beds frames. Two of them were ancestral - from our great grandfathers! They were of pure teak and were damn heavy. I picked up the relatively easier task of unlocking all of them; the separated parts were carried out of the room by my bro and dad!

It was after the PC was packed and the Broadband disconnected that one of my friend messaged me saying the University results were published on the net. What’s more? I was getting calls and inquiries about my marks, along with the usual chat messaging! I had no choice but to keep away from all these. Intermittently, dad would ask me – “what are you poking so intently on your cell phone all day? Come help me out.” It was evening and that meant we had to finish up the packing soon. The truck was to arrive at 7 pm. We finished the packing before the truck arrived. After a few minutes into the loading, the power went off- the load shedding. It was cloudy and so the loading continued despite the power cut with lighted candles and flashlights. The driver and his helpers did all the work in no time. Meanwhile, we met our neighbors, said farewell to family friends and got dressed to leave. We had to go along with the truck to direct it home. Having got my driving license last month, I had the ‘right’ to drive the car! Though I had been driving for over four years now, illegally, having a license meant a different thing! And what best than to drive 100 kilometers on the newly constructed Main Central (MC) Road, from Muvattupuzha to Angamali and then on National Highway 47 to Thrissur. By the time we had dinner from a highway restaurant, it had been 10:30pm and we had not yet left Muvattupuzha. We started our journey to our native place and in a few minutes, it started to rain. The car stereo played the track “Alvida” from Life in a Metro. It suited well for the occasion. Mom was silent, lost in thoughts, nostalgic and emotional. Dad was awake for a few minutes and then he started to sway on the front seat. He was tired after a week long preparation. Bro sat on the rear seat along with Ma. By the time we got to NH47, the road got bumpy and mom could no longer sleep.

Driving for over two straight hours on a night journey can be really tiresome, especially when you have skipped sleep for a few days. The journey never seemed to end. By the time we reached home at Thrissur, it had already been 12:30am. Our tenants had not moved out yet. They had cleared a room to ‘dump’ our stuff. As soon as we reached home, dad’s younger brother and brother in law also arrived and they helped unload the truck. We left all the heavier goods to be unloaded by the truck driver and his assistants. We did not want to take the risk of spraining our backs. One by one, the goods and chattels were taken down from the truck and kept in the living room. Finally, the truck was emptied, and the fares and wages cleared. My watch read 2:15am. My head felt heavy but I was not sleepy. It was long past bed time, and there we were standing in the porch. We had a word with my uncles and started off to my dad’s home. My dad’s youngest brother stayed there with his wife, two kids and grandma. We reached there at around 2:30am. Grandma was awake waiting for us. As we entered, dad asked grandma – “Why are you awake still? It’s too late.” And she replied “I lay down and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t”. I remember her saying the same thing every time dad gets home late from office on busy days when Grandma used to stay with us. Even if everyone at home falls asleep or takes a catnap, Grandma would be awake until dad gets home.

All of us took bath, and had our dinner (or was it breakfast?!). Our beds were already made before our arrival. I was happy to finally lay down after a day’s hectic schedule. My brother and I were on adjacent beds. He laid down and disappeared under the blanket. He fell asleep in no time. I laid down staring at the ceiling recollecting the days back at Muvattupuzha. The pictures that started out bright began to fade away and then, darkness…