Pascal
So, in a rare occurrence, I actually had decided what I wanted to write about this evening. The subject was going to be The Home Bell. But events have transpired since that caused me to change my mind. I shall, instead talk about The Tubing Effect. Ah, the agony. And the poignancy. Anyways, let's get started.
So, growing up in India, we didn't have a 24 hour hot water supply as I am now used to. When I was very little, we had at home an Immersion Heater. What is an Immersion Heater, you ask? It is the most horrific device humanity has ever devised. It's basically this metal coil thing that you plug in to the power outlet and immerse in water that is in a bucket, preferably metal. Yes, you heard that right. Imagine the most dangerous device you could have at home. And then multiply it by 10. That is the Immersion Heater. Anyways, we had this at home. And I think my Mom and Dad, to ensure my safety, brainwashed me about this thing and put the fear of God, or Devil, whichever is stronger, in me re the Heater. And just to be sure they did it twice. Well, if you saw me as a kid, you wouldn't blame them. I combined the intelligence of a i-don't-know-what and the safety instincts that went with that I guess.
So I lived in fear. If there's one thing that I am sure I will fear of all my life, it is this. Now you get it.
Anyways, chugging along with our story.
At some point, my parents realized that having this Immersion Heater around wasn't a great Idea. (Yes, I have decided to randomly capitalize words in my blog so it makes it seem more Intellectual. Or Sarcastic). Time passed along. Around this time, the cooler (richer) houses had these things - they were called Geysers - installed in their houses. A geyser (pronounced gee-zer not guy-zer) is essentially a little tank that heats water and is fed by water from the main tank of the house. And the water from the geyser went directly to the faucet (or tap as we called it) and life was zippy. We didn't have it.
What we had was this. Our own domestic Mussolini, was we fondly called Mom, would boil water in a big steel vessel. Just before The Bath, we would put the bucket out and she would pour in this water. Mind you, the bucket needed to have some cold water in it already 'cause otherwise the water would be waay too hot for the plastic. And this is how we have buckets at home that are older than me. And this is why, my dear Dad is more attached to the dining table, the dressing table, a couple of chairs, the
cupboard, etc than me. Purely because he has known and loved them longer.
Anyways, that was the arrangement. Now, my poor Mom had a 2 burner stove. And she had to make tea, cook lunch for my Dad and us (so she could pack it for us), etc, on this while she heated water. So occasionally, there wouldn't be enough time for the water to heat up in time for the baths. Follow me closely here. What would ensue : Yours truly would be all chirpy in the morning and ready for her bath and would fill up the mug with water from the bucket in a carefree manner. And then realize, in a slow sickening manner, as the water made contact, that it was not Hot Enough. I preferred scalding-hot, but I had a decent range that I was happy with. This was outside the range. The water was not cold. It was warm. That was the kicker. It was warm and it felt like this. It felt like the water was hot enough but instead of making contact directly, it was being circulated around my body in a Tube. Out of reach. Just outside the warm zone. It drove me nuts. It drove A nuts too. So we discussed it at length and named it The Tubing Effect. I honestly don't remember who came up with it but we both felt the same way about it.
So why are we talking about TTE in this blog? Today was another long day at work and I went directly from work to have dinner with friends. On the drive back home, I kept thinking about that nice hot shower that was waiting for me at home and how I would be all relaxed after it. You can guess what happened next. I came home, jumped in the shower and discovered that it is still haunting me after all these years. The Tubing Effect. No explanation. The water was just not warm enough. I almost teared up. But it too, did pass. And I am stronger now. But I resolved right there, in the shower, that I would tell the story.
Finis
So, growing up in India, we didn't have a 24 hour hot water supply as I am now used to. When I was very little, we had at home an Immersion Heater. What is an Immersion Heater, you ask? It is the most horrific device humanity has ever devised. It's basically this metal coil thing that you plug in to the power outlet and immerse in water that is in a bucket, preferably metal. Yes, you heard that right. Imagine the most dangerous device you could have at home. And then multiply it by 10. That is the Immersion Heater. Anyways, we had this at home. And I think my Mom and Dad, to ensure my safety, brainwashed me about this thing and put the fear of God, or Devil, whichever is stronger, in me re the Heater. And just to be sure they did it twice. Well, if you saw me as a kid, you wouldn't blame them. I combined the intelligence of a i-don't-know-what and the safety instincts that went with that I guess.
So I lived in fear. If there's one thing that I am sure I will fear of all my life, it is this. Now you get it.
Anyways, chugging along with our story.
At some point, my parents realized that having this Immersion Heater around wasn't a great Idea. (Yes, I have decided to randomly capitalize words in my blog so it makes it seem more Intellectual. Or Sarcastic). Time passed along. Around this time, the cooler (richer) houses had these things - they were called Geysers - installed in their houses. A geyser (pronounced gee-zer not guy-zer) is essentially a little tank that heats water and is fed by water from the main tank of the house. And the water from the geyser went directly to the faucet (or tap as we called it) and life was zippy. We didn't have it.
What we had was this. Our own domestic Mussolini, was we fondly called Mom, would boil water in a big steel vessel. Just before The Bath, we would put the bucket out and she would pour in this water. Mind you, the bucket needed to have some cold water in it already 'cause otherwise the water would be waay too hot for the plastic. And this is how we have buckets at home that are older than me. And this is why, my dear Dad is more attached to the dining table, the dressing table, a couple of chairs, the
cupboard, etc than me. Purely because he has known and loved them longer.
Anyways, that was the arrangement. Now, my poor Mom had a 2 burner stove. And she had to make tea, cook lunch for my Dad and us (so she could pack it for us), etc, on this while she heated water. So occasionally, there wouldn't be enough time for the water to heat up in time for the baths. Follow me closely here. What would ensue : Yours truly would be all chirpy in the morning and ready for her bath and would fill up the mug with water from the bucket in a carefree manner. And then realize, in a slow sickening manner, as the water made contact, that it was not Hot Enough. I preferred scalding-hot, but I had a decent range that I was happy with. This was outside the range. The water was not cold. It was warm. That was the kicker. It was warm and it felt like this. It felt like the water was hot enough but instead of making contact directly, it was being circulated around my body in a Tube. Out of reach. Just outside the warm zone. It drove me nuts. It drove A nuts too. So we discussed it at length and named it The Tubing Effect. I honestly don't remember who came up with it but we both felt the same way about it.
So why are we talking about TTE in this blog? Today was another long day at work and I went directly from work to have dinner with friends. On the drive back home, I kept thinking about that nice hot shower that was waiting for me at home and how I would be all relaxed after it. You can guess what happened next. I came home, jumped in the shower and discovered that it is still haunting me after all these years. The Tubing Effect. No explanation. The water was just not warm enough. I almost teared up. But it too, did pass. And I am stronger now. But I resolved right there, in the shower, that I would tell the story.
Finis
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