The sight of a sewing machine, tool kit, an extra strip of bathroom slippers, unused pages rough book, grandparent’s era clock, radio all of them missing these days. The main reason behind it is our attitude towards mending things. People instantly think or plan to get a new product rather than put in their creativity and make the old one look better. We do not want the right hemisphere of our brain to exercise( majorly responsible for the creative aspect of a person). As already most of our creative thoughts and IQ have a dependency on search engines. With the click of a button or telling few instructions, we have a world of ideas open in front of us to pick and choose the best.

Do we need to search for a clicked picture of our father to see his broad proud smile when he made the defective piece of Transistor play his favorite songs again, and of our mother’s joyful face, who made beautiful embroideries over tiny holes of the bedsheet and made it looked so new and different, and of our own face which shined after wearing the colorful knitted sweater catching all neighborhood eyes? Those images are imprinted in our hearts and soul because they were full of care and creativity besides love. The same pant increased in length with ours, the loosened belt of the evening dress got adjusted by morning, the broken bucket stood in the verandah with a lovely flowering plant, the torn saree was knitted into a beautiful doormat, Diwali or Id or Guru Purab or Navroz or Christmas or Ganesh Chaturthi or Pongal were enjoyed more as this is the only time it meant new clothes and gifts till the next year.

I still remember my red-cheeked face after getting my elder brother's half-filled diary to use, the day when I wore my cousin's outgrown dress when I wore my father's‘ Air Jordan’ shoes as a teenager. The thrill was different altogether from getting a new one. It always filled us with pride to have stepped up in age as well as equally responsible to take care of elder’s precious possessions handed over to us. Have never seen cluttering of anything at home, neither of clothes nor gadgets.

There is a wave of self-healing workshops, Ted talks on positivity, patching the holes of our past, meditation courses. These all help us to mend ourselves, our thinking, our actions then why not mend the titbits of our home. The only difference I see is our lack of creativity and negligence towards mending things. The debate of lack of time is non-arguable. Infect putting 2-3 stitches neatly and creatively takes less time than taking out our car, reaching the store after a drive, parking in the lot, picking new stuff, get it billed, and then getting back home., or ordering online and then fighting for the undesired product. Rather than googling for new radio or gadget, we can try to google how to fix the broken part or the error message. The time spent on searching good designs, we can just close our eyes and get our right part of brain work a little which might amaze us who knows. The hands-down-to practice gives a sense of belongingness and ageless memories. Do not remember any time of the 4 Rs’ so prominently taught these days in the books had taught us as there was no need for it.

Sometimes the picture that has its imprint in our mind has more effect than one of our screensavers. Let us make an album of these pictures for our kids and loved ones, let us be more creative, more demanding from ourselves than from the brands, let us buy only when required, and not get trapped in the false need created by the market. Let us mend our ways. Let us do it….