My Partisan

I’ve had my electric toothbrush for about 9 months now – the life span of an electric brush (based on what the back cover reads) is 3 months. It’s a cute green thing, one of the reasons why I didn’t want to do away with it sooner; the other reason being – we as humans love to take life out of any being before saying our goodbyes.

Anyway, its span overdone, the connection hasn’t been right. You switch the damn thing on and play ‘on-off’, shake it using different angles, wait - until the right contact is made and it finally works. Out of patience, I bought a new one. Glistening in its purple cover, diverting attention from its horrible undercover wire connections, it operates like a drill. Often I’ve wondered if the need of dentures would arise sooner than desired. So there, as of today, sitting on my basin are two brushes – one overused and one overly enthused.

This morning, near the basin, I spent some minutes contemplating which one to use.
My maid entered and said “To didi, naya brush kaisa hai?” (So __, howz the new brush?)
Me: Accha to hai, magar shayad daant tod dega (Its nice, but might break my teeth)
Maid: (laughs) To purana wala use karlo (In that case, use the old one)
Me: Nahi, usko start karne mein jaan nikal jayegi. Magar mujhe yeh bahut pasand hai, kya karen – (sigh) (Nope, to get that started might cost us our lives. But I really like the old one, but what can one do?)

Right then, she picked up the brush and switched it on – no response. Switched it off and back on – no response. Without switching it off, she placed it on the basin, picked up the new one, and as she was going to apply the paste ….ZZrrrrrrr… the old thing sprang to life. We went into shock. My maid picked it up, switched it off and then swicthed it back on – heavens – it worked. Do I need to mention we laughed till our eyes were out of tears??

Today I find a new lease in life – something still wants to be mine.