so in my on campus job, i clean stuff. table, windows, beds,carpets... dustbins even. initially, i hesitated in giving the description, but as time went by, i realised there was really no shame in doing what i was doing. menial and unworthy it may sound, but a bird in hand is worth two in the bush i guess!! on a more profound note, all this cleaning was long pending, ignoring mom's instructions do not pay off! but this blog isnt about how i have suddenly woken up to labour rights and equality, or how i love my hands smelling like an infusion of latex-rubber gloves and the greenish blue cleaning spray( i dont). it is about the innumerous items of interest we chance upon, and sometimes sneak, while pretending to be Mr.Clean.
the very first item to be metioned must be the pennies. for the love of God, i still do not know why some guy stuck pennies with a chewing gum? all over his side of the bed, we had a penny party going on..needless to say, most of them have found their wayto the pockets. quoting a fellow cleaner- "i have so much change in my pocket my pants are falling off !".
on the same day we found an ironing board, a mandolin, 3 guitar picks, rolls of toilet paper, a printer, a soft toy, t shirts, underwear,nike shoes too big my size, magazines,decorative magnets, a box of wafers,pencils of various sizes,condoms, a blue tumbler, writing boards, ethernet cables, a shawl, gold jewelery...huh...my job isnt that bad after all...
what i wonder is why were these tings left behind? i agree carrying toilet paper might be ridiculous, the shoes may have been torn, the wafers might have been past their expiry date, but what about the others? they seemed like stuff either bought fancifully to please oneself or a gift. had they lost their importance? the small soft toy left in a corner smelled sadly like a break up, the mandolin unused indicated a life of deadlines, unaccustomed to small pleasures, the inexpensive but cute magnets had lost their attraction, the trip lay forgotten;only the souvenir remained, the nikes and the golds were probably from people who had either a very forgetful nature or too much in their lives to remember anything anymore...
while i emptied the rubbish, i thought of my habit of collecting trash. from all the birthday gift wrappers to the first starbucks coffee cup to the portrait of the first crush,the exam papers from ten years back,the stones from a certain fort in Rajasthan,the saved chats that i read over and over again( do not call me a freak),some of dad's snaps he thinks are lost,innumerous friendship day bands,a ticket from the best train journey of my life,a rusting chain that disadorns my neck,all the useless conversations and un-needed memories that dwell bright and proud in my head,in my heart...are these really worth collecting? are these testimony to the times when i laughed and loved or are these fossils that prevent me from moving on?
Is it time i bring out the greenish blue spray and wipe them all off?
7 comments:
wow su u make me feel less of a freak now, collecting train tickets (and obv bus and movie tickets also) having multiple copies of chats i'd never wanna lose, and millions of memories i hold more closely than the conventional so called valuable things, i thought i was a freak, thanks suu, once again u make me feel i have company, and forget about getting on those gloves and cleaning spray, i'd not trade them for the world, maybe ten fifteen years later when i open my box of trash and find the train ticket of the day i met you after four years, the bill from naturals for two rounds of ice creams it will make me smile and hey if i think its gonna make me smile why in God's name would i ever throw it away, but ya all those things that wud make me sad, out the window they go, dont even think twice before getting out those gloves and cleaning spray.
jaimeen, u forgot the chana zor garam after the 2 rounds of naturals...m hanging the gloves :) no memory,happy or sad can ever be unimportant,or erasable.
Sumana, khoob sundor lekha. I completely understand that chat-reading thing. I have memorised who said what on which date.
Though I have collected my share of trash, I think I am better off without them. May be because I have lived longer than you, and certainly have more than one best evenings, best train journeys, best friends. I know, my current best will be replaced by another best in 5 years of time.
Anyways, the point is, nice post. Keep writing.
Hey what did you do with the pencils/pens? I am building a collection of thrown away but whole pencils/pens that I find over the campus (or elsewhere) and I am going to donate them to poor kids in India. And if you speak of collecting junk, come see my room one day... I never throw away anything :(
Kuntala-di, thank you.erokom utshaho pele to ami protidin ekta notun blog likhte raji achi :)
i so wish trash fele deao-r motoi easy hoto mon aar matha theke shob baar kore deoa.but i agree with you, life is much better without the unnecessary remembrances.aar joto accurately chat mone thake, toto accurately history ba chemistry mone thakle aamra ekebare Einstein er natni hoye jetam,ki bolo?
Sugata-da,pencil jogad korcho? aage bolle onek dite partam.cheshta korbo aaro pele tomay dite.
junk er kotha ar bolo na,amaar majhe majhe mone hoy amar ei notun appartment ta ekta dustbin :(
making a jewel out of garbage with an eye so observant and words so profound...
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