A wake-up call at dawn

Compulsions of work eject us from bed, even as one feels like tossing the timepiece out of the window

For many, nothing is more disagreeable than rising from bed in the morning. The temptation to linger under the covers a little longer (and catch a little more shut-eye) is irresistible, especially on a wintry or rainy day. But the compulsions of work and other responsibilities somehow eject us from bed — even as one feels like tossing the trilling timepiece out of the window!

As a boy, our plump Leghorn cock would raucously crow us awake at the crack of dawn, sometimes even earlier. Soon our neighbours’ roosters would stridently join in, each trying to outdo the other in volume — much to our annoyance. Sometimes, it was the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee that pleasantly woke us — a real olfactory treat. Later, working in a tea estate, it was a couple of ‘narcissistic’ wagtails that roused me early every morning — by persistently ‘admiring’ and pecking at their reflections in my bedroom’s windowpanes! Though an outright nuisance, they did get me to work on time.

In water-scarce Tiruchi in the 1960s, the spirited pre-dawn squabbling at the public water tap across the lane usually banished all further sleep in our home. Resigned, we would lie in bed listening to the clamour of women’s voices and the clanging of their metal pots, their bickering punctuated by the fitful gurgling of the tap.