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October 09, 2005
Fatima, brooms, and clutter
Cleaning the clutter, brooms, not vacuum cleaner, they are too efficient and noisy, brooms are more romantic, they actually touch the surface they clean, and there is also a sense of caressing the surface which could be therapeutic. we could all use a bit more touching, caressing, and maybe less clutter, so the cleaning tool of the choice will be a broom. Brooms are also more historic. There is more sense of familiarity with them. eh remember Witches, and the brooms, and they are very utilitarian, and at the same time very simple, and have a handle which help a lot, come in different sizes, so they are adjustable, they are not racist, we see them in most slaves houses depicted in books, and most of all they are useful.
I remember in the old days, the home owners in the cities, used to broom the front of their houses and then even pour some water to clean further, and the smell of the dust hanging in the air would get into you. I liked it, the same way I am not turned off with a bit whiff of a skunk, I think there is a interesting dull tinge to it, maybe a bit like coffee. Any way in the old days in the city you could clean the front of your home, the stairs, and most every one used brooms. and afterward you could sit on those stairs and shoot the breeze with some one............... it was nice.
I remember how Fatima used to broom the rugs in the house. she would open the window, and tell us kids to go away while with her body ben, she used to brood the rugs, going with the nap, and then she would pick up all the dust that was raised by the end of the rug. she would make sure the windows would bee open on both side so there would be a nice current taking the dust away. and then she would do the yard, the stone, broaming the dust and pouring it inside the little patches of greens, and after ward she would hose it down with water, it felt like spring, every time Fatima came to clean the house.
And then she would put the large round flat metal container that used to be called Tasht, usually made of tin, or copper, with around sis to eight inches of rise all around its side, making it like a very little round pool. Fatime would put warm water in there and then some kind of soap, and this blue lavender color potion in the water and then she would stair it so it foams and then soaked the dirty clothes in it and washed them, while squatting by the little pool, sometimes for hours. until everything was washed, she then would drench, and squeeze the soap from them, empty the dirt water in the toilet, and pour clean cool water in the Tasht, and rinse the cloth in them, till all the soaps were out and then she would hang them on the band that was stretched across the yard. After ward she would sit in the shade, all sweaty and tired, rubbing her hands while some one would bring her some hot tea with sugar cubes.
They didn't make many colorful shirts those days. Men used to wear mostly white shirts, with a Navy, or gray slacks. so when the shirts got dirty they were easy to see. the rims around the color, the tea stain. so they would be washed with soap and lavender. Most of the picture I see of men in those days, shows them with clean shaven faces and trimmed slim moustaches. their hair short on the side, and a bit more on the top. there was a preciseness to that fashions, a cleanness, not much clutter. but I guess this was all before color TV's and Eve Sain Louren. There was a sparseness about everything, you would not fill the cup to the rim. Men carried handkerchiefs. and there was a nice predictable lines in their flat, not pleaded pants with their narrow bottoms, ending right on top of their polished simple lined shoes.
In the streets you could pass by some one, with enough distance so you could see them, you would not swim within the masses of bodies around you brushing against you so close that there is no space to keep your head at eye level, you have to look up as you walk. There were not many accidental happenings, in any form and shape, I guess we all had more space. no clutters, even the sun used to be brighter, and colors sharper, and more attractive since there would always be some whites around for contrasts, and depth. and you could even hear your own footsteps which could be so reassuring sometimes.
Men looked more mature, maybe the way they dressed. those white pressed cotton shirts, the short hair cuts. but it was also something in their eyes. something more serious, more driven, more hungry. they all had these simple round watches with white screens and pronounced black hands that could easily tell them what the time was, and how to keep time, and be on time. There was a certain etiquette to living, a certain protocol. I think it is the order that I am missing, the discipline, the knowing. you walked in your own shoes and found your own image in the mirrors, morning coffee had one flavor, and of course adding milk was the only temptation.
It is like whenever life becomes too cynical for me, I sit down and watch me a nice old western, maybe with John Wayne, or James Stewart. I usually feel better afterward. remembering things can be much simpler, and there is a definite choice between good and bad and you can recognize them with the colors of their hat. We have so many choices now that our kids are lost, we doubt ourselves so much that we feel lost. analyzing everything to the point of even the placement of our couches in our living rooms, we have so much more, and are left with so much less. and we have lost the sense of association and the satisfaction of knowing how things works and the warm comforting sweat after a hard day of labor. we have been separated, we don't see how the broom pushes the dust and the dirt away, we hear the vacuum cleaner sucking the dirt, there is not as much association. and Fatima pushes the cloth in the washing machine, and pushes the button. and never gets that tea and sits in the shade rubbing her hands. We have been morphed, and visualized, and predicted and become so efficient, and I guess that is good.
Posted by Idinraha at October 9, 2005 12:14 PM