A house of hoarders

Every word you read here comes from deep within my heart, especially this article since I’ve no energy left to deal with my parents’ hoarding habits which have effortlessly managed to get them to fill our new house with things in double digits that a house of 4 would hardly need. “It’s useful,” is a go-to counter for any questions I have for any object. I can’t break their 30-40 years old thinking that has solidified over time. It’s a waste of time. I can just make peace with it. Our garage is full, whose intended purpose was to park our car in. Now it’s a place for dust-laden objects sourced from various places. There is some nostalgia to it for sure. Over the top most shelf I see an ancient lamp in blue colour. This goes back to when we were kids and would take turns lighting it up whenever the light went off. There’s also a dismantled cot which I used to bounce on when it was woven tight or on a summer day, lay on and watch the eagles go in circles against the bright blue sky with no clouds. Notice how there’s so much blue. Blue lamp, blue sky, etc. This is another story. Now that I’ve had enough of nostalgia, I now see some weird and bizarre collections.

There’s a brown packing paper from amazon deliveries. No idea what would be the use of it. There’s bubble wrap and plastic bags of electronic bags. Some are folded neatly, and some are just stuffed inside a plastic bag. There’s a massive stack of boxes of diverse sizes, more complicated than a game of Jenga, but somehow more stable. On one of the shelves lives an array of small Bisleri bottles, each filled with different types of screws. I never knew there were more than 3-4 types of screws. This is just the start though since there’s more to it and objects behind objects.

I need to mention that this unwanted habit of my parents indeed, silently rubbed off on me. I realised this when I went to Bangalore and started cleaning and neatly stacking the plastic containers of food delivery. I moulded them into so many utilitarian purposes in my imagination while cleaning them but never did. That’s how hoarders think, I believe. I thought I’d put my pastel colour set in one of those black gravy boxes and keep it on my desk, but that’s only one box I’m talking about. What to do with the others that are now slowly turning into a titling stack with an addition of every new box. My black plastic possession only remained a box with loose coins of 1 or 2 rupees and a holder for incense sticks ash. I was also a hoarder of every merch being handed out in any design conference. I didn’t care what the purpose was or what it said. I just wanted to keep it on my work desk next to beer bottles painted in yellow, which also has a dry stem painted in silver just for aesthetic purpose. A decorated work desk just gave a hollow sense of accomplishment and nothing more. When I had this realisation over a month or two with a few existential questions followed by overthinking at night, I discarded them. When I moved to a new place, I left all those black plastic boxes with their unfulfilled purpose and the dust collected over the years. I gave away all the diaries, still in plastic, which I hardly touched and tossed all collaterals in the dustbin. I felt terrible while doing it, but it was liberating for my mind. I’d post photos of anything I wish to not use or keep and let anyone call dips on it.

A few years later, now that I’m in Doon, I’ve unknowingly hoarded. I’m a hoarder again. I wanted to paint for some reason a day and ended up buying a whole box of pastels, inks, and acrylics. I made a lot of paintings and framed only 2 of those. That’s all. The bottles of inks and pastels are there as they were a few months ago. The acrylic has separated from the solvent and a pale clear liquid floats on the top. I occasionally shake it violently to mix it up and to just keep it back and never use it. The latest additions to my hoarded possessions are 2 glass jars of varying sizes and 2 cutlery bowl in bright blue and yellow. I collected this from the Suvidha store while hanging out with my friend. Maybe I’ll turn one into a flower vase and the other to put cookies into. I could also keep loose items like erasers, pins, sticky notes in it. I don’t know honestly what use I’ll put them to. They are still finding a purpose to fill in this home which sometimes I like to call a house of hoarders.