BED MAKING

As a child I loved going through English magazines bought by my mother, and, fed on the glory of the British Raj and their impeccable, sophisticated ways I admired English ladies. I wasn’t inducted into the raptures of desi décor and craft as I am now. I soaked in  Georgette Hayer and Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, and dreamt of wearing crinoline dresses and being swept off my feet by a Clark Gable look alike!! As a young teenager, buying curtains and georgette sarees and chiffons were certainly out of my reach, but the next best thing was the dressing of beds and windows. My mother who was a good seamstress, made frilly curtains and valances out of printed voile sarees and lace window blinds, and it pleased me that she shared my passion.

Many married years later and when maturity sunk in, I learnt to appreciate Indian textiles and the wealth of culture we inherited.  I couldn’t even bear to store a host of imported ceramic curios in glass cupboards crafted for this purpose. But our bed mania persisted, and the beds had to be perfectly made without a single crease, and my paranoia infected the whole household. That spelt doom for our domestics who could not understand why folds in the under sheet mattered so much, and why beds should be made at night and remade the next morning. They talked with pride how they worked in homes where there was only a single sheet, and pillows outside and  bed linen changed once a week, and that they never ever had this backbreaking chore.

We made (and unmade) our beds ourselves, till I decided to pass on this skill to our maids. Maybe it was an unwise decision, but having got into that mode, I am not getting out of it, and each of us has our own vision as to how a bed has to be made. Fortunately, of late, husband Kittu has made a foray into domestic activities. Retired men please note, it might or might not be a good thing. Depends on the tolerance of your spouse.

Well, my husband tucks in both the inner sheet and the outer right in at the footboard. This is to facilitate easy unbedmaking at night and remaking the next morning till sheets are changed. The inner sheet is spread out, tucked securely at the sides, mattress lifted up for this purpose, no shortcuts please and   woe to the woman who tries to push it in, with the tips of her fingers. Never mind if it is a heavy Kurl On mattress, you don’t have to do weights at the Gym. If you’re the kind who doesn’t gym, all the more reason, to believe that bedmaking is sure to improve your biceps and triceps, and if you draw your tummy in during the process you will help the core muscles. . If you are a young woman between 35 and 40 and weigh let us say 65 kg with a height of 5’ 5” you will burn about 60 calories an hour, making the bed, if it is any comfort.

To continue, after the sheets are stretched taut (according to my husband he was taught at the hostel that if properly made, a coin would bounce off the sheet) they are are folded backwards, pillows placed on the fold after being plumped out and the folded end of the sheet placed over the pillows. Then the small cushions are arranged in an artistic manner.

What purpose do these cushions serve?” I am asked. More work, more tailoring, and if ready made covers are bought the fit is reminiscent of an old lady wearing a loose fitting gown, or if it is too tight, you invariably tear the cushion in attempting to stuff it in…

Mum has her own ideas on bed making while the morning session remains the same, the night session varies. The top sheet is entirely removed and folded in a particular way at the foot of the bed, in an absolutely straight fashion.

And to crown it all our maid is blessed with parallax error in her vision. I took out my beautiful indigo ajrakh counterpane with its exquisite borders. All it required was adjusting the borders to the edge of the bed. No way, the borders were placed in near diagonal fashion, with one side of the sheet hanging lower than the other. According to my maid the borders were perfectly aligned and it was we who had warped vision thanks to the onset of old age.

Either way it is a losing battle. Either we pray for a suffusion of enormous patience to take up the challenges of training,  or we give up with good grace and learn to discipline ourselves to do the beds ourselves as we did once upon a time

Or should we go back to the chattai- and thin sheet routine at least in summer?BED MAKING

Sabita Radhakrishna

As a child I loved going through English magazines bought by my mother, and, fed on the glory of the British Raj and their impeccable, sophisticated ways I admired English ladies. I wasn’t inducted into the raptures of desi décor and craft as I am now. I soaked in  Georgette Hayer and Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, and dreamt of wearing crinoline dresses and being swept off my feet by a Clark Gable look alike!! As a young teenager, buying curtains and georgette sarees and chiffons were certainly out of my reach, but the next best thing was the dressing of beds and windows. My mother who was a good seamstress, made frilly curtains and valances out of printed voile sarees and lace window blinds, and it pleased me that she shared my passion.

Many married years later and when maturity sunk in, I learnt to appreciate Indian textiles and the wealth of culture we inherited.  I couldn’t even bear to store a host of imported ceramic curios in glass cupboards crafted for this purpose. But our bed mania persisted, and the beds had to be perfectly made without a single crease, and my paranoia infected the whole household. That spelt doom for our domestics who could not understand why folds in the under sheet mattered so much, and why beds should be made at night and remade the next morning. They talked with pride how they worked in homes where there was only a single sheet, and pillows outside and  bed linen changed once a week, and that they never ever had this backbreaking chore.

We made (and unmade) our beds ourselves, till I decided to pass on this skill to our maids. Maybe it was an unwise decision, but having got into that mode, I am not getting out of it, and each of us has our own vision as to how a bed has to be made. Fortunately, of late, husband Kittu has made a foray into domestic activities. Retired men please note, it might or might not be a good thing. Depends on the tolerance of your spouse.

Well, my husband tucks in both the inner sheet and the outer right in at the footboard. This is to facilitate easy unbedmaking at night and remaking the next morning till sheets are changed. The inner sheet is spread out, tucked securely at the sides, mattress lifted up for this purpose, no shortcuts please and   woe to the woman who tries to push it in, with the tips of her fingers. Never mind if it is a heavy Kurl On mattress, you don’t have to do weights at the Gym. If you’re the kind who doesn’t gym, all the more reason, to believe that bedmaking is sure to improve your biceps and triceps, and if you draw your tummy in during the process you will help the core muscles. . If you are a young woman between 35 and 40 and weigh let us say 65 kg with a height of 5’ 5” you will burn about 60 calories an hour, making the bed, if it is any comfort.

To continue, after the sheets are stretched taut (according to my husband he was taught at the hostel that if properly made, a coin would bounce off the sheet) they are are folded backwards, pillows placed on the fold after being plumped out and the folded end of the sheet placed over the pillows. Then the small cushions are arranged in an artistic manner.

What purpose do these cushions serve?” I am asked. More work, more tailoring, and if ready made covers are bought the fit is reminiscent of an old lady wearing a loose fitting gown, or if it is too tight, you invariably tear the cushion in attempting to stuff it in…

Mum has her own ideas on bed making while the morning session remains the same, the night session varies. The top sheet is entirely removed and folded in a particular way at the foot of the bed, in an absolutely straight fashion.

And to crown it all our maid is blessed with parallax error in her vision. I took out my beautiful indigo ajrakh counterpane with its exquisite borders. All it required was adjusting the borders to the edge of the bed. No way, the borders were placed in near diagonal fashion, with one side of the sheet hanging lower than the other. According to my maid the borders were perfectly aligned and it was we who had warped vision thanks to the onset of old age.

Either way it is a losing battle. Either we pray for a suffusion of enormous patience to take up the challenges of training,  or we give up with good grace and learn to discipline ourselves to do the beds ourselves as we did once upon a time

Or should we go back to the chattai- and thin sheet routine at least in summer?