What's the object in this picture?
It's a porcelain cover of a toilet cistern, turned upside down and put to a more colourful use. Why would somebody do that? Well, it might have developed a crack or more likely, something happened to the rest of the pot and the middle class Indian owner, instead of throwing the cover away along with the rest, decided to grow a bed of table roses in it!
While this may be a little extreme, it's not too far from the middle-class mentality I grew up with. I still find it hard to shake off.
Those of you who grew up in middle India and are now at least in their 30s and 40s are likely identify with this 'condition' in yourself. Younger readers from the same economic strata are likely to know this as the embarrassing disease their parents suffer from :-)
It makes you hold on to metal biscuit tins and empty mineral water bottles long after their original contents are gone. It makes you retain nice paper bags that gifts come in, so you can pass it on when its your turn to gift stuff. In severe cases, the person may even make save gift wrapping paper, placing it between the bed and the mattress, to iron out the creases before re-use :-)
I've chosen to focus on just one symptom, but it is really more of a 'broad spectrum' thrift condition. I list a few more symptoms, this time in the 'clothing' category, for your entertainment...
1. Wearing clothes meant for "outside" at home, long after they've faded many shades, making them unfit for "outside" use (...resulting in fewer robbery attempts in your home, since you look impoverished all the time)
2. When the clothes in symptom 1 above are so ragged that even you can't wear them anymore, you annoit them 'wet mopping' cloths (that's just the humble 'pocha') and put them to work again...
3. Buying "outside" clothes only twice a year, at the annual "summer" and "winter" end-of-season branded sales (...thus ending up with sweaters in February, to be worn next December soonest)
4. Parking in a street where the parking fee is a flat Rs.10/-, when you actually need to go to the mall at least a block away, which charges Rs.60/- for 'the first 2 hours and Rs.20/- for every subsequent hour' (unless of course, you can get Shopper's Stop or Pantaloon in the Mall to waive off your parking fee since you're at their annual sale mentioned in symptom 3 above !)
....
If any of this rings a bell, please do add to the list (i'm sure we could hit at least 25 if not more, there are so many 'sectors' - travel, eating out, etc...)
If you'd rather send in a picture that does the job simply, please mail it to neelimachli @gmail.com...I promise to post it with this entry.
And what do you think of the 'condition'? Is it a mere hangover from a poorer time, something middle Indians would do well to leave behind or is it a trait worth retaining in today's consumerist world? Does you current economic status have anything to do with it?
I wait for your thoughts, smack in the Middle of it all. Cheers!
Recycling, the concept that the world has discovered very recently, was part of our lives long back:))
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree with Priti. I think it is something to do with the oppressed way our ancestors lived under the British rule. There was poverty and (for some lucky ones) just enough money for a hand-to-mouth existence. We need to admire them for this trait - They excelled at managing with what they had and were much more content with life than this generation.
ReplyDeleteSome of the recycling done (in the seventies) by my household is still vivid in my memory.
1. One of the done thing during our times was - opening up the school coloured uniform shirts and skirts and shorts (that would fade because of drying in the indian tropical sun) and stitching them inside out which could be easily pulled on for another couple of years!
2. During the summer hols, we would religiously pull out all the blank sheets from the used notebooks of the previous year and stitch them together to make 'rough' notebooks for the next class.
3. Down South, used old 'Terrycot' trousers get recycled into shopping bags by the roadside tailors. Creative women in the house would make some simple embroidery or a small patchwork to make it look pretty!
4. Buckets with holes became flower pots with pretty seasonal flowers masking the ugliness of the buckets.
5. Some of the softest and luxurious baby quilts were made from the grandparents' old cotton dhoties and sarees. Some of the first borns were lucky enough to get an old silk saree as a cover for the quilt and the baby pillows!
6. That reminds me - The clothes worn by new-borns were always recycled for 'luck' or maybe even Wabi?. I know 3 generations where atleast around 50 babies wore the hand-me-downs.
Wow! Thanks for sharing these gems Smart Cookie. Indeed, Priti and you are quite right. Cheers.
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