Sense and Sensibility
A most curious sight could be seen outside general stores and bazaars in many parts of the country this week. Aside from the ‘mithai’ and jewellery shops being bombarded with festive shoppers, one also caught some people, mostly women, walking out of general stores, resolutely holding a freshly purchased ‘jhadu’ or broom in their hands as though it were a mace and not a humble broom. But come Dhanteras and the humble broom acquires quasi-divine powers. It is said that the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, likes environments that are neat and clean and well-kept and therefore, the purchase of a brand-new broom that is meant to aid in getting the home free of cobwebs and all dusted and cleansed, is both appropriate and common.
Any significant festival is ornamented with its own peculiarities and traditions. Some of these practices may evolve with time but continue to carry and convey core ideas that make sense, remain relevant and are made more interesting by the stories they espouse. Halloween comes with its ‘Trick or Treat’; Eid with its ‘eidi’ and Diwali with its almost mandatory ‘safai’, its de-cluttering and cleaning.
The de-cluttering makes tremendous sense at many levels. At a practical level, it helps us review our accumulations of the year gone by as well as dig into all that we managed to hoard over the years. Some of the stuff can be easily discarded, given away or upcycled. Indeed, it can be utterly humbling to see how one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure - clothes, furnishings, gadgets, utensils, tools and so on.
But quite ironically, it’s the stuff that actually no longer makes any sense and that’s harder to get rid of. Stamp collections, copies of cult magazines, dog-eared books, jackets and woollens and outdated fashion, old letters and correspondence, watches, bulky photo albums, CDs, cassettes, stationery including old ink pens, all kinds of travel memorabilia - the list can be long and varies from individual to individual, home to home. Boxes and cartons of these continue to occupy space and storage, not just in our drawers and chests but also in our minds and hearts. We tend to hold on to this kind of stuff so as to hold on to a slice of our lives or perhaps an era or a relation that has well passed and slipped into oblivion.
And herein comes the larger question of the symbolic broom and the Diwali ki ‘safai’. It’s plain logic to give away clothes that no longer fit or gadgets that no longer work and we do so with reasonable agility. But what happens to that same logic and dexterity when it comes to putting sentiments that no longer have any meaning or place to rest? After all, just like a computer, any of us have a limited memory or RAM that would need the ‘corrupt’ or ‘duplicate’ files to be weaned out so that we function efficiently, without glitches. Files such as resentment, bitterness and disappointments are therefore best trashed to make room for brighter, better engagements.
Could it, therefore, be, that just as that newly purchased broom, attacks the cobwebs hiding in dark, dingy corners, we too could use this time to reflect upon our weaknesses and clean out our own cobwebs and baggage, gently getting rid of stuff that has had its run and is now only taking up space without adding any value, holding any meaning and thus making it harder for newer ideas, bonds and experiences to germinate?
It could be a difficult, arduous process in the beginning. But if the discipline sets in, we could be enriching our lives hugely by giving up unnecessary hoarding and attachment and instead incentivising Lakshmi to bless our homes and lives with peace and prosperity.
Who knows whether the acclaimed poet and lyricist Gopaldas Neeraj, wrote this at the time of Diwali cleaning, but he sure summed it up well, when he said: “Jitna kam saaman rahega (the lesser the load), Utna safar asaan rahega (the lighter the road); Jitni bhaari gathri hogi (the heavier the belongings), Utna tu hairan rahega (the greater the sufferings).”
Supriya Newar is a Kolkata-based writer, poet, music aficionado and communications consultant. She may be reached at [email protected], Instagram: @supriyanewar, Facebook: supriya.newar and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/supriya-newar
