The compulsion of work throws us out of bed, like tossing a clock through the window
For many people, there is nothing more unpleasant than getting out of bed in the morning. The temptation to stay under cover a little longer (and close your eyes a little more) is irresistible, especially on a cold or rainy day. But work compulsions and other responsibilities somehow get us out of bed – it even feels like a trilling timepiece being tossed out the window!
As a boy, our plump Leghorn rooster would wake us at the crack of dawn, sometimes even earlier. Soon our neighboring chickens will be joined vigorously, each trying to outdo the other in quantity – much to our annoyance. Sometimes, it was the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that pleasantly woke us up—a real olfactory treat. Later, while working in a tea garden, it was a pair of ‘narcissistic’ wagtails that would wake me up early every morning – by constantly ‘praising’ them and pecking their reflections into my bedroom window panes! However, despite the outright hassle, he asked me to work on time.
In water-scarce Tiruchi in the 1960s, early-morning brawls over the public water tap across the street usually put an end to the sleeplessness ahead in our house. Resigned, we would lie down on the bed listening to the women’s voices and the rumble of their metal utensils, the fit rumble of the tap, their pique.
Our boarding school wake-up call was often dramatic. The prefect will enter the dormitory at 5.45 a.m. and light it. Then, his fingers fluttering mechanically like castanets, he played through rows of camp-cots. Slow risers will find that their beds do not move very gently like a boat in a storm. And sometimes the blurry-eyed sleeper was ruthlessly woken up – landing on the ground with a thud, much to our amusement!
Only a few voluntarily get out of bed in the morning. For many people, it’s a magnet they can’t tear themselves away from. The tendency to burrow deeply into one’s pillow when it’s time to get up is probably more common than you might imagine. It is usually only the self-disciplined or strong-willed one who gets up in time.
American comedian Edgar Wilson Knee once wisely said, “I get out of bed in the morning not because I’m dissatisfied with it, but because I can’t keep it with me during the day.” And in a lighter moment the novelist Somerset Maugham once quipped, “Doing two things every day is a dislike is a rule I faithfully follow: Every day I get up and I go to bed.”
Until a less intrusive wake-up call is created, the bedside alarm clock will probably be our best bet – even if it’s the last sound someone wants to hear!