January 26, 2015

The Story of Small things!!

Why did I name it The story of small things? I feel every little thing in our life/home has a story attached to it. Right from buying an eraser, a pair of shoes, an iPad to a car, what pattern curtains you have in your living room, why you have the lavender-scented bathroom spray to what you pack in your kids’ school lunch. You name it, and a story speaks.
            Why did I start writing this in the first stance? Because we moved. We moved 8 times, lived in 9 homes in 10 years. Yes, you heard me right; and I am exhausted. Hopefully, the last as it is our own home. So, with each move, you tend to clean the clutter despite spring cleanings throughout the year. That's when you find one of the topaz earrings you snatched from your sister last Christmas. That's when you find a bunch of candy wrappers in your son's closet realizing why the 5 pound Halloween candy bag now feels like a feather. That's when your daughter finds her scented Santa eraser between the sofa seats for which she had been searching an entire year. That's when the husband finds his photograph with the Megastar under the debris of documents he had been carefully safeguarding from the inception of this earth. The list could go on and on...

While we find these amazing secret treasures hidden in cleavages unlimited; there are certain things I found that traveled with me across oceans, countries, and continents. The most ancient thing that tops my head is my Vibhooti box. I had it from 2000/2001. I used to live in a hostel during my P.G days. We had a common room to attend to incoming phone calls. One of those days when I was talking on the phone, I noticed a small box on the desk that had pins in it. I thought it would be so apt to put my vibhooti. Before I am done with my call, the pins were on the desk and the tiny box in my hands. From then, it had been traveling with me to whichever city or house I moved and lived in. 

When you have a boy, your house will be filled with balls of all sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. One thing that makes me super mad is the husband and son playing catch in the middle of the house. Each time the ball hits a plant or a vase I threaten to trash them all. Every single time, I hold the soft orange squishy thing, a warm feeling envelopes me. It was a ball the son caught from the cheerleaders on his first Sacramento Kings' game at the stadium. How can I let it go? 

The husband declares to trash all the junk toys promising to buy them a new set in the new home. Though they may look old, how can I let him throw away the firefighter bear? Bears can be firefighters, how? Our neighbors had a fire accident in Folsom. My 4-year-old stood on the pavement silently. Not terrified. He was very excited to see a fire engine live. He gave a high-five to the FF. The FF took him inside the fire engine and gave him a tiny brown bear. My son thought he almost lost it in his multiple India trips only to find it out in a suitcase after so many years. See, how cute he looks. :) 

This box may not be the cutest one out there to store your novelties but I fondly owned it. My father had a fertilizer business and the pesticide company would give them complimentary gifts of all sorts. These boxes were one of them. While my mom stored tamarind and red chilies; I thought I can put them to use in a nicer way.  Though there are more fancy boxes available now, I still use them to store my daughter's clips. 

I am sure y'all must be having some cute little stories of cute little things in your lives. Thank you, BM for making me complete this post :)

38 comments:

  1. I can so relate to it. This is my 9th house since 2009 but as you said, many small things stay with us.

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    1. What??? 9th home since 2009? OMG!! Saru...you gotta get a prize seriously. Isn't moving a painful thing. True that about the small things :)

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  2. One can relate to it.Most have sentimental attachments to things that have no monetary value but cling to them as priceless possessions.Nicely written.

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    1. Thank you, KP sir. We collect small, small stuff and they become a part of our daily lives..so, we kinda get attached to them

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  3. wow - thats a lot of moving. Sure beats mine :). Possessions exponentially increase with kids - and yes, many small things which might be junk for others have a special meaning for us, making them difficult to let go.

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    1. Yeah Shachi. I moved twice from Bay Area to Folsom....looks like Saru beats all of us. It is so hard to throw away some of the kids' stuff. like their first pair of shoe..their first that ...first this..etc..and the junk piles up. I got rid of a lot of the kids projects, art works etc...couldn't afford to keep them all.

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  4. I guess though we move houses we own memories. I have a pile of such things too which I cling on most dearly :)

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    1. Very true, Bhagya. Memories are what stay with us forever...aren't they? Would love to hear about your dear things as well :)

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  5. Oh yes,certain old possessions are saturated with fond memories and we love to handle them from time to time.It keeps us connected to the past.

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    1. I like what you said, aunty. These tiny things keep connected us to the past...so true...otherwise, I would not be going back and reminiscing the past so often.

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  6. Every object has a story because we women invest so much thought while buying them.

    Lovely post, Latha. Made me nostalgic,

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    1. Exactly...Sometimes I wonder, do I really have to think so much to buy such a small thing? But you know, it does matter. And I don't think many men get it...And I am not sure if they are as attached as we are when it concerns some things. Very happy to get a compliment from you :)

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  7. Interesting stories ... Whenever you search for something you will end up finding all long lost things except the one you are searching for :)

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    1. That is so true, Jaishree. You will find things that you don't know existed once. Thanks for reading :)

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  8. Only 9 houses in 10 years? Would you faint with shock if I told you that I have moved 44 times in 38 years of marriage? And that doesn't include the houses I moved with my parents! Do you know what? We still don't have our own home so you can imagine the moves to come in the years ahead :( But you are right, for me it has been a voyage of discovering lost things and also decluttering the home at regular intervals :D I have put up several posts on the ordeal. Ask a veteran!

    The knick knacks all have tales to tell and most of them are so endearing that we are loathe to throw any away. And you stole your oldest memorabilia? Tsk tsk, Lata! But what a steal, right? :D :D

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    1. OMGG.....I literally fainted. How did you even manage to move so many times? Did you unpack everything each time you moved? you should have started a Moving company by now :P I wish you move as less times as possible. hehehe...for sure, you are a veteran. I don't think anyone in India can beat you in moving :) haahaha..never realised that it was a stolen one. :D :D

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  9. Loved reading the story of the small things. It is actually the small things that matter the most. Hope you're now fully settled at your new place. May it be filled with peace, health, happiness and prosperity. :-)

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    1. Thank you, Rekha. Yeah, very true. These tiny things become a part of our lives and matter the most when the time comes to discard them. We are still settling in. Thanks a lot for your blessings and wishes :)

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  10. Ooh such a cute post. I have just recently given all the lovely soft toys of my sons to my niece. It is so nice when toys pass among cousins. My husband is a hoarder so there are many things in the house that are never touched. Of course, every Diwali, all shiver in the house because my Kali avatar surfaces. And I mercilessly give, discard and throw stuff that seems useless to me. The house we live in is our own home, and we moved here almost 12 years back. Whew! But before that, I lost count of how many houses we changed.

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    1. Thank you, Rachna. Hahaha...so, your husband and I must be belonging to the same stars. It is hard for us to get rid of some stuff. Oh yeah, I know about your Kali avatar during Diwali :) I learned to discard stuff after so many moves. Especially the arts and crafts that kids make. They just pile and pile.

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  11. the story of small things is evocative of one the booker novel with a similar title and the theory on things I read last week for a lecture. where the writer said, the word thing is used by us when we kind of don't know what to name it or say about in words, although we know it by sight or smell.. and after that, whenever I encounter the word thing and write even some thing there is a conscious effort to double check :)

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    1. I also felt the same...it sounds like the title god of small things..I even mentioned when I drafted the post long time back, but removed it as the content changed by the completion of the post. You explanation sounds interesting. I should keep this in mind next time when I say'thing' :) Welcome here and thanks for stopping by.

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  12. I am so bad I just dont have the heart to throw things, I get so emotionally attached to everything. My loft is full of things .. I have gone into it sometimes thinking i need to de clutter it all i have ended up doing is .. remembering memories , crying and coming down without a single thing..

    its the small things that are most important always I feel .. and plese dont tell me of shifting :)

    so how are you doingggggggggg how is the new house .. when you inviting me bolo bolo

    Bikram's

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    1. Me too...me too...only thing is, I hadn't had the luxury to pile them up. I had all my letters like that and one day mom just trashed them all. I think because of all those moves and the small apartments we lived in, I had to throw away a lot of junk. I am doing okay....ghar teek taak hai...don't ask me for invitation. You need to tell me when you are coming...sounds better? :)

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    2. oh yes that sounds absolutely better :) i a mcominggggggggggggggggggggg :)

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  13. It's always the small things!! A very cute post, Latha about such wonderful memories associated with things!!
    Hope you are having fun decorating your new home with all these things!!

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    1. I know right....I am so glad I did this post...everyone loved it. I even got compliments from friends who hardly read my blog :) Thank you, Rosh. Yeah, these things found their safe places.

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  14. I have so many cute, little things that I've collected over the years. It drives my hubs nuts because there is SOOO much. I finally saved up enough to get a really good curio cabinet and now that's where I keep the items. I especially like collecting small crystal animals. Or anything squirrel related, ha-ha!

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    1. Oh....that's a wonderful idea, Marcia. I think I also will get one of the curios when I clutter enough junk now :) ouch...they are not junk...memories :) wow..crystal animals...interesting....now I know what to buy for you if at all we ever happen to meet :)

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  15. Ashwini, watch out....don't get too attached, Eventually, you will get married and move out darling. You cannot carry all the stuff that has fond memories attached. Why I am saying is, been there...done that :)

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  16. awwww...this made me remember the time we had to pack everything and shift to a new house. But nothing beats your shifting 9 times in 10 years. Damn that is insane!!
    Its funny how we associate memories to such small things. They literally grow on us. :)

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    1. I know how frustrating moving is...but I am happy and proud to have done it with a smile each time :) Yes, the small do grow on us some times. They are hard to keep and hard to throw away too.

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  17. So true Latha! So many small things at home just waiting to tell their stories! Lovely writing:)

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    1. Did you remember any small things that are waiting to tell their stories in your house? Thank you, Rahul sir.

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  18. Touching, it's amazing how small little things that might mean nothing to somebody else actually means so much to us - Ah... Memories! Lovely post!

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    1. Thank you, Arti. Good to see you here after a long time. We even don't notice how many small things lie around us and what they mean to us.

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  19. deepest and often the fondest of memories are often related to such small things like boxed, teddys etc. cute post :)

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