What’s in, what’s out?
Things that go out of fashion in Indian households strangely find a comeback in Indian drawing rooms.

By Meha Mathur
Our commerce minister believes Indians are great conserves. And I have started believing him. Even though the disposable culture has really caught the fancy of urban middle class Indians and people would rather go for one-time-use items, I feel Kamal Nath has a point. Look at the way items discarded long back, maybe even by an ordinary households, get a place of pride in high society homes.

There’s a two-way flow. On the one hand there’s flow of electronic gadgets and worn-out Godrej almirahs from the richer to poorer homes once they have served the purpose in richer households. And the cooks, the press-wallah, the driver, who are bestowed these items happily stack these bulky items in their one-room living spaces and are proud of these acquisitions as a sigh of upward mobility.

Now what are the rich getting in return? A host of things. Maybe an old paan-daan and peek-daan (ask your grandmother what it means). Maybe your great-grandmother possessed one such set and used it daily during her siesta hours. Your grandmother discontinued the paan culture but still preserved the set in a kitchen loft, as a mark of respect for her mother-in-law. Your mother had no use for it and sold it to a kabadiwala. Chances are, the paan-daan and peek-daan decorate the side table in a richie rich bungalow.
A lot of families, who moved on to new houses, selling their ancestral property, could not accommodate their bulky cupboards (made of best-quality wood), Victorian-style dressing table, heavy brass and bronze plates, bronze water containers, bronze lotas used for bathing purposes, and other such objects. Or, they had no use for these objects now, as new lifestyle demanded sleek furniture, stainless steel and glass. Now the bronze and brassware is a collectors’ item, and might have passed into the hands of a snobbish art aficionado, who proudly displays it, unlike you.

Most households, rich and not-so-rich, had gramophones (later replaced by record players, which in turn were replaced by cassette players, and which are now on their way out, thanks to match-box size music systems). These gramophones, quite bulky, have now acquired an art value, and have been taken out of store rooms to adorn a cabinet.

Heavily carved bedposts now act as candle stands, and horse stirrup supports a towel. An angithi was a good source of heat during the unforgiving winters. Before geysers made their inroads, these were also used to heat water for bathing purpose. After all, gas cylinder could not be exhausted so easily, in those days of scarcity. But angithi has outlived its old purpose. It’s cumbersome to operate and hazardous to health. So that ubiquitous object now finds an altogether different role to perform – a plant pitcher in some households, or a lamp shade in others.

Olden-day tiffin carriers, so clumsy to carry, find customers in art shops. Discarded bone china plates, which would have been part of dinner set or tea set, have also got a high price tag in these shops. You will even come across a stove, a lantern, a horse saddle, a stirrup in these up-market art shops, frequently visited by overseas clientele and upmarket Indian clients.

Other pieces of daily use now have got another role – that of door knobs. It would be interesting to know, 20 years hence, which other objects of present-day-use do these doors allow in, as objects of art. The monitor? The I-pod? The camera?

What else is this, if not recycling?

—The author is the Executive editor of Management Compass and Career Choices