Waiting Shade
My lovable washing machine
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Ni Bobbie Malay
After six years of faithful hard work, week in and week out, my family's little old washing machine has begun to tell us that it's time to retire.
You can hear it in the way she groans now. It used to be that you could load her with a week's worth of dirty clothes and she'd churn away happy to do the job for you.
These past weeks, however, she's been going "Toggg! Kalatoggg!"-still softly, however, as if she didn't want you to hear.
"Mabuti kung umabot pa ng Pasko," I tell the kids. "Baka sakaling mapalitan pagdating ng bonus." Last year, most of my Christmas bonus was spent on that set of capiz lights for the tree outside our window, plus the obligatory gifts, of course. Well, this year everybody will remember, hopefully, that we're not exactly rich and besides, there's a huge crisis going on, di ba?
This is the first washing machine I've bought for ourselves, and I can probably say that among people of my generation that was not a very ordinary thing to do.
"Hindi malinis ang laba kung washing machine," many women say.
Even as the 20th century comes to a close, hand washing is still the way to go in the Philippines even among urban middle-class families. Sa TV ads, ang palaging ipinakikita ay mga babaing nagkukusot ng damit sa batya.
Siguro kasi marami pa namang babaing mahirap na puwedeng upahang maglaba. Magkano nga ba-P150 isang araw, libre pagkain, sa iyo ang sabon?
Pero kung kekwentahin, definitely mas mura ang washing machine. Noong 1992, P3,000 ang bili ko sa aming Laundrynette, bale P500 isang taon. Nang mag-canvass ako kamakailan, napansin kong mas mataas na ngayon pero very affordable pa rin.
Hindi lang affordable, kundi acceptable na, sa dami ng babaing nagtatrabaho sa labas ng bahay (kahit sa prubinsya). Anumang oras, puwede mong paandarin. Kailangan lang nga, medyo sagana ka sa tubig. At siyempre, may kuryente.
Isa ring benefit, somehow ay di nahihiyang maglaba ang mga lalaki kung sa washing machine. Kung bakit naman nakokonsyus sila pagka nakatalungko sa batya, at nakalubog ang braso sa mabulang detergent.
Napag-usapan na nga namin, na sa susunod ay parehong model pa rin ang kukunin: single-tub, pagkat iyon ang kasya sa aming space, bulsa at level ng pamumuhay na aming gusto.
Unlike an automatic machine where all you have to do is push buttons and the water will turn on and off, drain out, etc., until the clothes are almost dry and ready for their hangers, the single-tub obliges you to do some physical actual work, the wringing that is. Sort of reminds you what other women do every day for years.
Dear Laundrynette, you've never let me down. Simple, uncomplicated machine that doesn't throw tantrums like a computer. Or need to have a part replaced, available only at one store so inconveniently located, like a coffeemaker.
Eggyolk-yellow Laundrynette, grimy now from neglect, I really haven't been as industrious and dependable as you. You deserve a medal.
Si Bobbie Malay ay propesor ng pamamahayag sa University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication. Dati siyang reporter ng The Manila Times at Taliba. Siya at ang kanyang ina na si Paula Carolina S. Malay ay nagsalin sa Filipino ng America is in the Heart ni Carlos Bulosan, at ang obra nila'y nanalo ng National Book Award mula sa Manila Critics' Circle. Kasali rin ang kanyang mga sanaysay sa mga antolohiyangTelling Lives at Coming to Terms.
