 
‘I underwent many hardships to maintain my figure’
Whenever you touch an electric
light switch, or pick the telephone, or turn on the radio or any
electric appliance, you are paying an indirect tribute to the inventive
and mechanical genius of Alva Edison. With his long career of research
experiments and inventions, Edison contributed more to our modern
mechanical civilisation than any other scientist. In the meantime, the
unscientific world woke to the fact that scientists were on the track of
great new inventions.
 It was in one of these inventors’ rooms that I saw the light of this
world. To bring me up as a single parent, my father had to face many
obstacles. Electric current has to overcome resistance as it flows
through a wire. Every conductor, however good, has resistance although
some have only a very small resistance. Electricity, provides heat as it
forces its way through a resistor. The greater the resistance, the
greater the heat produced. Sometimes the conductor becomes warm and
sometimes red hot, as in an electric fire.
In an electric iron, the coil becomes hot but not red hot, otherwise
the iron might burn the clothes. The domestic iron is heated by an
element consisting of a conducting wire and on to an insulating sheet.
It contains an adjustable control which cuts off the power when the
iron reaches a certain temperature. This consists of a strip of two
metals (bimetallic strip) which bends when it is heated owing to the
different rate of expansion of two metals. The bending causes the
contact points to open which stops the current flowing so that the
element cools down. For my body to grow to maintain a healthy figure, I
underwent all these hardships. By now I reached womanhood.
Everyone wants to look smart and elegant. The best dressed will
always attract attention. For that matter, you need your clothes well
tailored, well stitched, and well ironed to be perfectly fitted to your
body.
I have reached the threshold of marriage. My father was clever enough
not to keep me at home any more. So he sent me to a shopping centre to
get acquainted with the rest of my fellow mates. Here I made many
friends and some were my admirers. They ranged from fashion conscious
women, dry cleaners, tailors and school children to adults in numerous
age groups.
I was in big demand.
 After some time, a tall corpulent man with sexy looks caught my eye.
He had lovely sparkling eyes and that was one of the first things I
noticed about him. In a few moments he had his hand around me. After an
hour’s drive in a limousine, it took us through the winding paths
through a row of trees with its low canopies forming a shady archway
along the way, we stepped into a palacious house.
An attractive young woman greeted me. Her English was worse than
mine. It was obvious that she was from an African country. It didn’t
take much time to know that she was the house keeper. I built up a good
rapport and was obviously in loving hands. Well, this day electronic
accessories play a very important role in the everyday life of people,
especially the electric iron.
In my new home I was assign ironing babies nappies, colourful women’s
wear to shirt collars, and lived happily ever after.
- Tissa Hewavitarane
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