What a mess!

I was going to write about AI today, about OpenAI launching Operator, about trusting AI, about how things might turn out for us in the future. But I do not feel compelled to write about it now. Maybe I will tomorrow.

Today, I want to talk about something else.

I visited my friend today, who lives in Matinkylä also. He used to live in the same apartment complex, but moved some time back. Now its far enough that I can't just get up and go. But not so far enough that I have to take a bus.

They had a baby a week back. We wanted to give them a little time to settle and then visit them. So we did, today. We walked from our apartment to theirs. I talked to Prerna about Yaris, and Volkswagen, and what car should we buy next year.

We left the pram at the ground floor of their apartment (there's no lift in their apartment). We climbed up the two sets of stairs and reached their apartment. My friend was at the door. We said hi, removed the three layers of clothing the three of us had, moved to the hall and sat down on the sofa.

The baby was being fed. So, we had some time on our hands. We talked to our friends, their parents who were visiting. And I found myself looking at how clean and organised everything looked!

I had just left my apartment in a mess. With toys strewn about. Toys for kids Savya's age is all sorts of crap - a plastic bag, an empty IKEA carton, a spent toothpaste bootle. No, he does not care about the stuffed panda or lion. No, give him the plastic bag any time.

Anyway.

I had just left my apartment in this mess. And everything was so clean and beautiful here. One thing about living as expats is you're never sure how much money you can spend on getting stuff. You never feel at home. Maybe you do after a certain amount of time has passed. But not in the beginning, or where we are now.

My friend's home does not look like ours. The layout is different. Their kitchen is to a side and more like a small room. Ours branches off from the hall - there is no separation as such. They have a big sofa which is in the centre of the hall and is basically the centre of the hall. Our sofa was a second hand I had purchased in 2023. Theirs is brand new.

But the home was clean. And it bugged me.

Anyway. We met the baby. She is so tiny! It felt ages ago when Savya was so small. I held the baby in my hand. I could feel her breathing. She was so small and cute.

We came back. I went on a walk. I thought about what to write about. About how the AI piece will flow. What would I write. And so on.

Prerna made dal-chawal-bhindi. It was great. We had dinner.

After dinner, while I was setting the plates in the dish-washer, it clicked for me.

We have a baby!

Our house will remain a mess.

Every day we will clean our house when we go to sleep. Every damn day. And the very next morning, it will become a mess.

I have seen my sister go through this. Kids are like that. They will make a mess. And it's OK.

Things get into an untidy state not in one shot. You will put one t-shirt one day on the empty chair. Maybe you were just tired. Then you would put socks on it the next day. Soon, it will just sit there, reminding you of what a sloth you are!

To maintain order, to keep things tidy, requires a consistent, constant effort.

And that's OK too.