When I was a little girl my morning routine comprised of a very important activity.
There was a huge washing stone in our backyard near the well.With a paste laden toothbrush in my hands, I would sit on it every morning and sink into the pleasures of daydreaming. I really cannot recollect what would have occupied the mind of a seven through ten year old, but I do remember that it was a deep meditative state, till my mother's soft, loving "Jayashree , are you done with brushing?" slowly evolved into a loud, irate "JAYASHREE, YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE TO SCHOOL!" The latter used to have just the right ingredients to jerk me back into reality.
Toothpastes were a fascinating buy in the monthly grocery list for us kids, especially with the foray of the television into our peaceful lives. The advertisements roused our curiosity, and we would want to try every new toothpaste on the supermarket shelves. I was fascinated by the way a huge clove transformed into the paste on a gigantic brush, or a laser ring of protection formed around the doctor and his family, not to mention the amazing colourful world of gel toothpastes.
On more than one occasion, after a very blissful afternoon nap, I have groggily headed to the bathroom for brushing without realizing that the mild rays from the sun were falling on my face from the west and not from the east.
This morning I got aroused pretty early from my sleep and was tossing and turning in my bed.Just yesterday, I read somewhere that you get heavier with age mainly because of the amount of things your head carries. Nearly a quarter century after those blissful moments on that washing stone, I have enough things on my head that are definitely not as enjoyable as good old daydreaming. Of course, when the problems are really big, you usually would be in action, and would hardly have any time to worry, like the lives of so many we read about in the news. For the rest of us in a 'not so bad' state of life, we worry a lot more than required, but that's how we are wired and lets leave it at that.
Deeply lost in the arachnoid webs of my mind, I decided that it was time to do more harm to my system with my daily intake of caffeine, aka my darling cup of morning coffee.
I headed to the bathroom and got armed to provide twelve hour antibacterial protection to my incissors canines and molars. As I started to brush, a weird smell wafted its way into my nostrils. Whats that? I wondered. My eyes fell on the unfinished laundry I had piled up in a bucket nearby "Any wet clothes in there?" None. My tongue finally decided to get active, and a disgusting-taste-signal ran through my nerves to the concerned corner of my brain, which as per protocol, promptly reacted with a "puke immediately" response. I managed to somehow control the regurgitation, spat out the white foam in my mouth and vigorously rinsed. What on earth was that?
Thats when I read the name CLEARLY "Clean and Clear Face Wash". Hmm, so what I applied on my brush was indeed white in colour instead of my usual green paste. I was not becoming colour blind as I had assumed and thats a blessing, thank heavens for that.
It tastes horrible, trust me and so an important advise I would like to impart to my fellow human beings
"Never ever leave your face wash close to your brushing set"
Anyways there would be no dark spots on my tongue for the day.
As for the bacteria, I doubt if they would dare to approach my mouth for the next few days.
There was a huge washing stone in our backyard near the well.With a paste laden toothbrush in my hands, I would sit on it every morning and sink into the pleasures of daydreaming. I really cannot recollect what would have occupied the mind of a seven through ten year old, but I do remember that it was a deep meditative state, till my mother's soft, loving "Jayashree , are you done with brushing?" slowly evolved into a loud, irate "JAYASHREE, YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE TO SCHOOL!" The latter used to have just the right ingredients to jerk me back into reality.
Toothpastes were a fascinating buy in the monthly grocery list for us kids, especially with the foray of the television into our peaceful lives. The advertisements roused our curiosity, and we would want to try every new toothpaste on the supermarket shelves. I was fascinated by the way a huge clove transformed into the paste on a gigantic brush, or a laser ring of protection formed around the doctor and his family, not to mention the amazing colourful world of gel toothpastes.
On more than one occasion, after a very blissful afternoon nap, I have groggily headed to the bathroom for brushing without realizing that the mild rays from the sun were falling on my face from the west and not from the east.
This morning I got aroused pretty early from my sleep and was tossing and turning in my bed.Just yesterday, I read somewhere that you get heavier with age mainly because of the amount of things your head carries. Nearly a quarter century after those blissful moments on that washing stone, I have enough things on my head that are definitely not as enjoyable as good old daydreaming. Of course, when the problems are really big, you usually would be in action, and would hardly have any time to worry, like the lives of so many we read about in the news. For the rest of us in a 'not so bad' state of life, we worry a lot more than required, but that's how we are wired and lets leave it at that.
Deeply lost in the arachnoid webs of my mind, I decided that it was time to do more harm to my system with my daily intake of caffeine, aka my darling cup of morning coffee.
I headed to the bathroom and got armed to provide twelve hour antibacterial protection to my incissors canines and molars. As I started to brush, a weird smell wafted its way into my nostrils. Whats that? I wondered. My eyes fell on the unfinished laundry I had piled up in a bucket nearby "Any wet clothes in there?" None. My tongue finally decided to get active, and a disgusting-taste-signal ran through my nerves to the concerned corner of my brain, which as per protocol, promptly reacted with a "puke immediately" response. I managed to somehow control the regurgitation, spat out the white foam in my mouth and vigorously rinsed. What on earth was that?
Thats when I read the name CLEARLY "Clean and Clear Face Wash". Hmm, so what I applied on my brush was indeed white in colour instead of my usual green paste. I was not becoming colour blind as I had assumed and thats a blessing, thank heavens for that.
It tastes horrible, trust me and so an important advise I would like to impart to my fellow human beings
"Never ever leave your face wash close to your brushing set"
Anyways there would be no dark spots on my tongue for the day.
As for the bacteria, I doubt if they would dare to approach my mouth for the next few days.
Aah! Brushing teeth with a face wash!! Happens to most of us! I added salt in my tea when the salt and sugar containers are as different as chalk and cheese and were not kept close to each other!
ReplyDeleteOh yes especially the super refined sugar of these days can really deceive us
DeleteLOL! When you are a mother, especially two times over, we will still manage to goof up even if they are kept poles apart!
ReplyDeleteI agree ilakshee , one hundred percent :) As long as we don't do it to them I think it's fine :D
DeleteHahaha! We men, have, our brushes (pun intended) with shaving cream :)
ReplyDeleteHa ha :D but yes I have a man at home and luckily he uses the can type container which in fact is placed quite close to our toothpaste :D
Deleteoh dear oh dear heheheI have done that with my moisturising cream ;)
ReplyDeleteMaybe next time :D ha ha
DeleteYeah, how that clove transformed into a whole tube full of paste was rather fascinating. Btw, I always thought even toothpaste can make me as pretty as the model :P
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you did that? I fear using my husband's brush. We have one brush and different brush heads. This time we bought a package and all brush heads are of same color. I painted mine pink :P
Toothpaste ads usually had a dentist and a family right ? I never noticed how good looking the models were :)
DeleteOh no :) ha ha ha you cant beat this .. I managed to bake a cake with Corn flour :) he he he to me they all looked the same
ReplyDeleteHow are you doing Jaish..
Bikram's
That's corn cake :) doing good bikram, but busy and very little time to blog
DeleteLovely read, Jaishree! This reminds me of having applied toothpaste all over mistaking the tube to be mosquito repellant once at midnight in Gauhati:)
ReplyDeleteOh oh ! That would have attracted Ants instead :)
Delete:):):) Awesome read Jaishree!
ReplyDeleteThank you Shivani :)
DeleteHaha...adventures of the bathroom kind deserves a separate post where I tried to wash my hair with conditioner and the husband tried cleaning his teeth with shaving foam.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading this post, Jaishree.
oops..those are two extremes of foaming ha ha :)
Deletehahaha I was rolling on the floor laughing. It has never happened with me but the salt instead of sugar has happened a few times. :)
ReplyDeleteThat was funny...but i hope you learned your lesson, as did I :)
ReplyDeleteYes that huge stone near the well is (was) a permanent fixture in every home.
ReplyDeleteLater as we moved to the city, we used to pester Dad to but the Binaca tooth paste as every box had a small plastic animal in it which turned into a hobby of competitive collection. Moreover we could also identify ourselves in league with Amin Sayani's Binaca geet mala.
Great you managed to spit it out in time ! Must have been a shock. Nowadays toothpastes really have all kinds of flavors & tastes. Who wd have thought , so many types can be made !
ReplyDeleteHey Jaishree, my first visit to your blog and had a good time reminiscing the times I must've goofed up!
ReplyDeleteHad a good laugh early in the morning reading this post. I am one for goofing up things and now am adequately inspired to share my 'mishaps' with the world through a post. More recently, I had the 'bitter' experience of tasting my fingers which had just applied a generous amount of Neem Oil on my body. Rest is history. Have a Good Day, Seriously!!1
ReplyDelete