A Coat of Paint

This weekend, I bought two cane chairs to place in our balcony. The chairs were not polished. The street vendor suggested I  get some varnish and have someone apply it on the chairs. Else, he offered to have it done for 200 Rs. and an additional 2 hours. Now, I dont know much about varnish, but I certainly knew that when someone says 2 hours, its normally an entire day if not two. Iam a Project Manager after all. I took the chairs and got a can of varnish and a brush along the way. They cost me about 150 Rs. in total.
I came home. There was lots of excitement about the chairs. I had newspapers spread on the balcony floor and placed the chairs on top. My son was all curious. We both started to paint in the afternoon. The next two hours went by, each of us taking turns. I had bought only one brush. The coats are uneven. The newspapers tore apart. Varnish spilled on the floor.  It smeared  our dress and our limbs. When the wife woke-up, the balcony and its two residents were a mess. One can imagine what would come next. We spent another 2 hours washing ourselves and getting rid of that smell.
The chairs took two full days to completely dry out. The overall effort was considerable. But every time we lower ourselves on those chairs, there is a special something. It has a little bit of ourselves in there. There is a story. There is a connect.
I am reading this book titled ‘How will you measure your life’ by Clayton M Christensen. I have just gone through the first chapter on ‘What makes you tick’. Expectedly we touch upon motivation factors as against hygiene factors. But there was one thing that caught my attention. Sometimes, the biggest motivation is not the destination, but the journey. Being part of a happy team, learning along the way, just that feeling of accomplishment at every small step.
To be honest, I have no great purpose in life. I am not going to change the world. I know that. 100 years hence, the only people who will know of my existence would be my grand children. So what keeps me going? Its the little things. A good day at work, a good weekend, a nice gesture or perhaps an inspiring tale. Its that coat of paint.
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5 comments on “A Coat of Paint”

  1. Bhaimi

    Awesome read! I like the last paragraph dearly. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Pradeep Reddy

    Lost in thoughts after reading…nice article…

    Reply
  3. Pradeep Reddy

    Very nice article…it made me think…

    Reply
  4. Kishan Bhandarkar

    I can totally relate with that! Guess my next couple of days will be spent in introspection 🙂

    Reply
  5. Kishan Bhandarkar

    I can totally relate with that! Guess the next couple of days will be spent in deep introspection 🙂

    Reply

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