![\"Laundry_Manjit_Handa\"](\"http:\/\/manjithanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Laundry_Manjit_Handa.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI bought few beautiful peels today.
\nNew clothes
\nclean, glazed, creased and perfumed.<\/p>\n
In summers we wear one peel
\nlike a banana
\nIn winters we turn onions.<\/p>\n
In many countries they remain onions
\neven in summers,
\nmay be they keep their insides cool like that.<\/p>\n
Some people are full of fire,
\nthey remain peeled
\neven in winters.<\/p>\n
It is intriguing, the plethora of peels–
\noranges, lychees, coconuts
\nkiwi, potatoes
\ncorn and what not.<\/p>\n
Some don’t even know they have peels
\nsuch as focused workmen and craftsmen.<\/p>\n
From vegetables and fruits we learnt
\nto wrap ourselves in different shades and colors.
\nBut unlike them we re-use ours
\nbecause we get them dirty with sins
\nand need constant purge in the elements.<\/p>\n
We should wash our own sins
\nI think
\nWhy should another human
\ndo it for us?
\nOr a mother
\nwho launders and covers her family’s sins?<\/p>\n
Even today when I call my mommy
\nfrom a far off country
\nI can hear the rustle of clothes in her
\nleft hand as she
\nremoves couple of clothespins
\nthat remain stuck to one or two pieces
\nof clothing.
\nThe clothes that she
\nwashed in the afternoon
\nand sunned well
\nso the family has a respectable disposition in society.<\/p>\n
The phone must’ve rung
\nand she would’ve emptied the clothesline
\nreaching me
\nto tell that all is well
\nand I should
\nbe good too
\nand do
\nwhat is expected.
\n(The painting ‘Laundry’ is a watercolor on a 9″x11″ hot pressed paper. This was a photograph taken by my Redbubble friend Moshe Kohen. I asked him if I could imitate it and he readily obliged. There are more lovely people in this world than we can imagine.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I bought few beautiful peels today. New clothes clean, glazed, creased and perfumed. In summers we wear one peel like a banana In winters we turn onions. In many countries they remain onions even in summers, may be they keep their insides cool like that. Some people are full of fire, they remain peeled even in winters. It is intriguing, the plethora of peels– oranges, lychees, coconuts kiwi, potatoes corn and what not. Some don’t even know they have…<\/p>\n