Reuse - a few thoughts

Reuse - a few thoughts

Aniruddha Sarkar

23 November 2022, 9-30 PM

In India, we had been reusing things till recently. Be it a piece of dress material or a kitchen implement.

If you move around in today's neighborhood, you may trace a few tailors who are busy stitching and repairing old clothes.

If you hunt out a Blacksmith's forging shop, you may find a lot of metallic household implements that are being repaired and/ or remodeled.

I kept on reforging a tong a few times from such a neighbourhood forging shop. Never thought of discarding it.

Each time, after repair, the tong returned with a stronger grip.

At every average middle-class household, you may expect a Usha Sewing Machine. The landlady is at work during slack hours to reuse some old dress materials by cutting and stitching those into beautiful pillow covers, and/or quilt, aka Kantha. If she can not devote time, some helping hand at home shall do it for her.

During every winter season, there would be vendors roaming around the neighborhood and assisting households in recasting their winter protections.

So, the old quilts, bedrolls, pillows, etc., would be out. The vendor would be inspecting those.

Then he would propose to discard, say, fifty percent of the old/ existing silk cotton, aka Simul Tula. If the house lady agreed, the vendor would add from his stock new fresh cotton to the old existing cotton. Then the cotton carding would take place in the courtyard or on the rooftop. By the next three to four hours, a set of new quilts, mattresses, etc., would be ready. The vendor would also provide a new cover for the quilts. If needed, he would send one of his associates to collect the needful from the local markets.

Such refurbished, made-to-order quilts, pillows, and mattresses, all mixed with old and new cotton, would be ready by the day's end.

Which are the conveniences of such an arrangement?

The household reuses a part of the existing costly cotton. They don't throw away the old bedding or quilts lock-stock-barrel.

Look and feel wise, the refurbished quilt, pillow, mattress, etc., is as good as new.

Convenience-wise, this is very much acceptable. The house lady oversees things happening in her courtyard. There is no running around. The job can be done on a weekend. The same trusted vendor who did a similar job a few years back shall be available.

As the kids grow up, the lady can scale up the capacity of bedding needs in steps.

For the vendor, here is a household, that is there around. The vendor has his brothers and sons as his associates. They maintain this customer relationship across generations.

However, there are exceptions.

For a new home, a marriage, or for any auspicious occasions like Puja offerings, last rites, etc., people generally shall visit an appropriate wholesale bedding market and order fresh bedding. They also pay in advance.

Such new beddings are made to specifications and delivered by the porters to the destination within a matter of two to three days. The porters generally carry the load on their heads and walk for miles together to deliver. They never fail in their commitments.

Back to the reuse story.

We had half a dozen coconut trees at our ancestral home in the Bally Rural Area in Howrah district, by the river Ganges, on the opposite bank of the City of Joy, Kolkata.

At home, the supply of coconut was steady. Once dried, those coconuts used to drop on the ground with a big thud. That was risky. It could hurt people.

So, there was one expert in our neighborhood, who would be called.

The gentleman, in his mid-fifties, used to come in a bare body, with one dhoti folded and wrapped from his waist up to his upper thigh. He carried a rope and a chopper, aka Dao in Bengali, in a small basket tied to his back.

Using the rope, he would make two loops. One loop wrapped around his toes, and the other loop would be held by both hands.

Then this neighborhood expert would climb the tall coconut trees one after the other and cut the coconut bunches. He could climb the trees like a lizard.

We would be standing below the tree at a distance and alert passers-by on the road.

After the coconuts would be down, the gentleman would cut a few old branches, and clean up the top. Thus, the next year's yield would be ensured.

He would not accept money. He would collect a few coconuts only.

Was it some sort of barter? I was told, he would exchange those coconuts for his groceries.

At our home, our elders would take charge. A few of the coconuts would be distributed among the immediate neighbours.

The rest of the rich stock of coconuts, counting a few hundred, would be stored below our cots in every room.

Next, at any event, those coconuts would be used for homemade sweets preparations.

One such famous Bengali preparation would be 'Narkel Nadu'.

The shells, aka Muchi in Bengali, would be retained for many useful purposes. One such use would be as temporary containers for planting new samplings in the kitchen garden.

The coconut Coir, aka Chhobra in Bengali, is used for burning incense during auspicious occasions, like Puja of Gods and Goddess at home.

Another important use of the Coir used to be burning along with Sulphur to drive away insects and mosquitoes from home during the evening.

This is not all. Strong brooms, aka Jhanta in Bengali, would be made out of coconut leaves.

And, the dried coconut leaves would be used as an ideal fuel for lighting up a Chula, the earthen oven, at home.

After many years of service, once the coconut tree would shed all its leaves, that would be the signal, the tree might not survive.

Sometimes, lightning would strike the trees, causing instant death.

The tall tree trunk would be cut into pieces and would be used in preparing landing banks, aka Ghatla in Bengali, for the village ponds. I had seen many such landing banks surviving for decades without much wear and tear.

My initial swimming practice as a kid started from a similar landing bank in our village pond.

We reused the coconut tree during its lifetime and even beyond.

The coconut tree is a part of our culture and heritage in India.

To sum up: in India, we have been reusing and recycling things as much as possible. We hardly create trash.

My take:

Today's use-and-throw culture does not fit into our Indian psyche.

----------×----------