The Ordinary And The Everyday

Books are a very important and fun and relaxing part of my life. The library is one of my favourite places. Many a time, I love re-reading my old favourites. I never get tired of reading them. I really cannot say the number of times I have read Asterix and Tintin comics. They are always fun and make me smile. Recently, I started reading some of my Agatha Christie books. It is interesting that they have not stopped interesting me. On the one hand there are books which have not stopped interesting me. But on the other hand, we leave behind so many books that were once fascinating. Why does this happen?

I was reading in ‘They came to Baghdad’ by Agatha Christie about the importance of ordinary, everyday life. The heroine finds herself at an archaeological dig. She is fascinated by the thousands-of- years-old pottery and other artifacts reflecting the day-to-day life of those times. She thinks, ‘They are the things that matter- the little everyday things, the family to be cooked for, the four walls that enclosed the home, the one or two cherished possessions. All the thousands of ordinary people on the earth… bringing up families and laughing and crying and getting up in the morning and going to bed at night. They were the people who mattered.’

These lines brought to mind the old lady who walks up the road past our house every evening to the vegetable shop to sell a few garlands to the shopkeeper. She grows the flowers in her garden. The shopkeeper keeps them on the photographs of our Gods. Everyday routine, ordinary life but such an important part of the lives of two ordinary people. In olden days empires came into and went out of existence, but ordinary people have lived on. These days we read about persons who do not belong to the common people and who go to any lengths to get power and more power, and of course wealth and more wealth, for themselves. Their lives seem so far away from the ordinary and everyday lives of ordinary people in any place. We get to read about kings and queens and about people who are supposed to have achieved the great things of life which have changed the world. However we don’t get to read about the mundane and the ordinary. Blogging has brought me into contact with bloggers in different parts of the world writing about their everyday life. I love reading this. Life seems to be the same everywhere. We take this routine for granted but in so many places this simple, everyday routine remains a dream. A sad truth.

Last month our daughter and grandson were with us. Those days were fun days and life revolved around our grandson. He mesmerized us with everything that he did. He wound us around his little finger and knew that we were at his command. The outside world and the events taking place there seemed to be happening on another planet. Memories of those days will always be with us. There was nothing special in what we did, just everyday, ordinary things and so very precious. They are as precious as those moments of sheer beauty in our daily life, like sunrise and sunset, blooming flowers, busy little birds flying back to their homes in the evening and so much more.