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{mosimage}Last week when cleaning the kitchen I came across lot of polythene bags, which we got while buying vegetables and groceries. (Hey guys, in Chennai also I saw Al Kabeer frozen parathas and chapathis, the vegetable sections of Spencers Daily and Reliance Fresh are very much like what we had seen in Lulu and EGM. Ofcourse the prices are also like as in UAE). We normally don't throw the bags hoping that it can be used for other purposes like "wrapping the tiffin box" and "gathering the garbage", but the problem was the supply exceeded the demand that the loft of the kitchen was literally filled with polythene bags. Throwing them led to the 'cleaning' mode that I sat down to throw the unwanted papers and things, whatever little I had. I remembered the fights and arguements that came as a part of parcel every time I 'clean' the house.

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While cleaning the cupboards of home, things I normally find - Old bills of jewels / sarees, "moy" note to keep track of who gifted how much in cash on what occassion, so that it must be repaid, old dolls that are retained with the hope of beautifying the show case all again, hoardes of newspapers (once I threw a pile of 2 years paper of "The Hindu" together) saved again with the hope that "any important news can be tracked". The funniest incident that came to my memory was when I threw my father's 3-4 years collection of "Employment News", he demanded me to throw the copies of "Filmfare" and "Digit" I had. I believe we, especially South Indians, become so emotionally attached to the materials that we won't dispose them till it wears / tears out completely. It won't be surprising when someone have heaps of sarees/shirts & suits of 20 years old, attaching a story with each set of dress - this bought when I was engaged, this was for first Diwali after marriage... etc. I believe we become too much emotional only when it comes to throwing the materials.

{mosimage}Right now in the house where I live, the landlord has piled a huge stack of broken plastic buckets, damaged tables and similiar things for the reasons best known to him. Some house wives see them in form of money / vessels, when they dispose it to the "old things vendor". I don't think it is a wrong approach but not a right approach also. When we decide something can't be useful for us anymore, we must dispose it taking the fact into account that it had served its purpose than expecting to extract more from that. Somebody in our circle / from lower strata who can't afford to buy it, might find them useful. Social service / helping the lesser privileged doesn't necessarily involve monetary formats only. Donating the old & unsized shirts / smaller uniforms, that are in good condition, text books, useful books / tables to the kids of people who work for wages is thousand times better than disposing them in lieu of vessels / vegetables to the "old things vendors".

Always the dresses I mark for the orphanages/labourers end up in some of my relative's shelves, which I find it disgusting. They can afford to buy a brand new one so I don't prefer giving them, no matter what they perceive my stand. All I am concerned was for the people for whom even a 1 year old used shirt is a matter of luxury. When we tell our parents to give these shirts to the workers / beggars, the first compaint they make is that we don't realise the value of money. But little they realise that the shirt had completed its "value" / "purpose" for which it was bought, but could be still more valuable to somebody else. A shirt worn only once in an year is a criminal waste of occupying the wardrobe space.

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