So we are getting the garage renovated, finally, after the price has gone up at least double, Mi. We had the chance to do it ten years ago but we let it go because it was too much work to clear it out.
But as with everything else in life, there comes a moment when it becomes urgent to do certain things. This is that moment for our garage.
We had been planning to clear out, clean out for a few months now, but always had a ready excuse to postpone it. In 2019 it was either when Vidur is home or when Vidur returns to campus. Also, we were traveling quite a bit on and off.
Then 2020, it was the pandemic. We didn’t want to go to the garage and work in the dust and pick up an infection or something that would necessitate a doctor’s visit because you know, that had its own consequences with the lockdown. Then a few months later, as the lockdown ended, the doctors took to consulting online.
Did I tell you that our PR now charges a hefty 400 for a phone consultation? SIgh. They also have to survive no? It must be so much harder for them to sit in their clinics and meet so many patients with who knows what all ailments.
Anyway – 2021 seems to be the year of the cleaning and purging because, as I’ve mentioned so many times now, I am suddenly freaking out over how much we’ve accumulated and I feel the desperate need to purge. I do go through this phase every once in a while and make some headway, but this time, I want it to be big.
Thanks to Sury, it is a bit easier because he finds it so much easier to let go of stuff. He sees the nonvalue of stuff much more easily than I do. Sigh. We began the big purge at the garage yesterday, spending the better part of three hours going through stuff.
There are boxes of Vidur’s drawings, bags of those cute snack boxes–almost new–bags of big plastic jars–his almost new high school text books–my massive collection of audio tapes–files I brought home for Seva Sadan–more books–more knick-knacks (for want of a better word – and also an unwillingness to detail everything here), and so on and so forth. There’s Vidur’s palna, his bamboo crib, those old heavy trunks, the easy chair frame . . . massive sheets of thermocol stored carefully lest we needed them for school projects . . . gosh!
We put aside humongous piles of stuff to dispose. Bags and bags and bags of neatly folded plastic bags. Strangely, I felt a bit sad to throw away Vidur’s school projects. You know that big beautiful glow-in-the-dark paper sun that we made when he was in the first std still looked as good as new! Broke my heart to throw it away. And wonder of wonders, Muni came over right away to clear it out.
We returned home feeling tired and I quickly washed up and made idlis as it was already late. We had desperately missed our second morning coffee you know!
Did I tell you I stopped selling raddi paper and scrap? I just give it away now – newspapers, recyclable plastic, metal etc. Muni is happy – I felt it is the least I can do. I am happy each trip is a few hundreds worth for him. The first time I told him I don’t want the money was a year ago and I remember his shocked expression. Makes me feel so good.
We still have 3-4 days worth of work in the garage before we can finalize what to keep. But the good news is we have begun. I was reminiscing to Sury about how you and I would periodically clear out extras from the garage. So much fun! I would be the one to linger and you were the one who was able to give away or discard stuff quickly. Had you been around now, I doubt if we would be having so much stuff to go through.
At least, we are fortunate that Vidur is not sentimental about stuff or attached to anything. Can you imagine if he were? Would we not go crazy? There’s not a day I am not grateful that he has a minimalist mindset.
As for me, the following words sum it up just fine!
The more things change, the more they stay the same
