The Swab Story

(Especially for Sheetal)
I came across a new product today. A kind of industrial size giant swab. It (the swab part consists of shorn fabric hanging from (not like you would imagine- a rod or a stick) but attached to a thick rope of about a meter and a half. The mode of operation is to stand in the center of the room and violently swing this object about. The trick (and Sunrendra assures me it is all in the “Trick”) is to catch any dust that happens along. To access corners and tough access spots, you need further expertise. I did tentatively venture to ask if a rod-type-regular-swab would not better serve the purpose. For which I was scornfully put in my place. Those things are for lesser places. Pokey little, congested (the very word used) nursing homes and such. I was further informed that I might not have much experience with swabs but any decently large place used this variety. Also that the swab weighed a good 5 kgs wet and was quite physically demanding. And no it was not an in-house invention.
You may think that this is an unusually large conversation about swabs but perhaps Surendra the sweeper was alarmed by the paroxysm of mirth that had me incapacitated and felt bound to distract my mind. In fact so bad was my condition that the entire floor of my office has since enquired after my health. The sweeper story has swept the office corridors, and my mind of a few cobwebs.