Tuesday, June 7, 2016

It Is Not Just A Table...

Recently, I purchased a nice, sturdy study table for myself. Made with sheesham wood and antique black knobs, it is a picture of elegance and sophistication. It is just perfect and exactly what I had in mind. I was super happy and just couldn’t help smiling for the longest time. The daughter humoured me for some time but really couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about.

The point is not the table but what it stands for. I come from a fairly middle class family and never had a table while growing up. For the first 14 years of my life we lived in a house which couldn’t have been smaller. There was no space for a study table. Most of the time I studied on bed or a small dining table. Later on I got our old dinning table to use as study table but it didn’t have drawers to keep your stationary, no lock and key to hide your secret diary from the world...it just seemed a compromise, the second best arrangement. I did own a computer table much later in life, but again it was for a huge desktop and was very basic and definitely not a reflection of my personality. At this time in life, I also associated  study table with intellectuals or rich people, who had time and luxury to read and write books. I know, I know thats not true and I was way off the mark...

But yes, now you will ask that hello, you have been working and earning your living for your entire life, so you could have bought table earlier if it was so important. Precisely, my point. After marriage it is just expected that you would be putting your needs at the bottom of the list. Sometimes there was no space in the house and at other times there was no money to spend on things which were viewed as unnecessary. And because I was working in office for most of the day, I myself believed that study table was not required.

However, I have been freelancing for the last 18 months or so and know that I would most likely be working from home for a long time. I needed one regular place or workstation to sit and work and this seemed to be the right time to do it. But it is not just a table, it is a commitment to my work and to freelancing, which I have chosen over a normal job. It is a sacrosanct space, it is a place to think and innovate, to write and to achieve more and more from life and to realise my potential. It is a testimony that I can and should carve my own future and last but not the least it is a sign that in this household women are given opportunities to follow their dreams, they are not shortchanged of their desires. So, it is not just a table for me...

The daughter will never get it because she has had a study table for as long as she can remember...

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