Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Lets paint the Wall red

A very brief conversation at the office today made me raise an eyebrow (Actually I went like WHAT??). I now completely understand why they say that half knowledge can be dangerous (or embarassing..whatever). All this may not make too much sense but the end result is that I have decided to change the name of my blog. I have decided to name it the 'Red Wall'. Well this name has no magnificent history or story behind it. Its just that one of the walls in my room is red (Naming is tough! My kids will be called A and B).


Talking about walls and colors, have you ever thought that you'll paint your apartment or atleast your room? Well I did (I didn't actually do it. I just thought about it). Its sounds fun doesn't it? You think about this great weekend you'll have where you'll invite all your friends, spread old newspaper all over the floor, have pints of cold beer, order pizza when you get tired, make graffiti before the first coat, accidentally paint over your friends (female) nose who'll obviously be wearing mini denim shorts and climbing ladders to reach that missed spot on the ceiling etc etc. Bullshit. It just proves that I have been watching too many Hindi movies. Its a tough job which takes a almost a week to complete requiring four full time professional painters.

Take my red wall for instance (which now looks fabulous by the way). First, you have to scrape off the old paint and chuna which leaves you looking like a spooky ghost. Most of the time you are just gasping for breath (I am just passing on the experience of the professionals we hired. I hardly entered the room). Then comes two coatings of 'Birla white putti'. In my dreamworld the weekend is already over. Mixing of the paint is also a tricky part because they hardly ever turn out to be the ones you chose from the brochures. Pizza?Beer? You'll end up fighting with the hired help because you think they take too many tea breaks.

The worst happens after three coatings of nice red paint when your mom begins to feel that the lighting fixture should be at the centre of the wall. Such irregularity in the position of the fixture is totally unacceptable. Apparently the irregularity in the timing of such a realization is totally acceptable. The painters watched in horror as the fixture was removed leaving a long white stretch of old white paint. It took a lot a red coating to fix that one.

Point is that in a way our life can be like the red wall. We may try to paint it the way we want but we'll always get a different color or be left with an unwanted white mark. 

P.S. The picture is for representation purposes only. That is not my room.