Beautiful Mess!

Switching homes especially after marriage is a Herculean task. While you want to take every treasure that belongs to you in the past 20 years, you realise that your second home can only accommodate a part of it. In the dilemma of what to take and what to leave one often leaves behind some important stuff and the same happened with me too. I misplaced my ATM card of the account which I frequently used earlier, before I opened my official salary account.

Recently when I went home – my maiden home, for a day’s visit, I planned to search it at few particular places were I usually kept it – like the upper two drawers of my study table or the book shelf. The moment I opened the first drawer, I discovered it was a complete mess. Being a cleanliness freak I could not believe that I hadn’t cleaned the drawers in years. However, I had to anyway ignore the mess and move ahead in my mission. Amidst all the confusion of where possibly can my ATM card be, my mind was screaming to tell that it has to be here. While I was struggling hard to swarm through the mess and locate my ATM card, I came across many trivial yet priceless things which made me re-live my past years.

I came across a torn piece of paper, which had changed its colour from white to yellow as if showing that it is very old. It had a message written on it which said, ‘Happy Birthday to Mummy, Luv,’ dated April 8, 1996. I gave my brain some task as I struggled to remember that this paper was stuck on the bathroom door by my brother and me to surprise my mom on her 56th birthday.

Running short of time, I quickly pulled myself to present from the memory and got on my job of searching the ATM card. The drawer was loaded with photographs of school and college days that I used to hang on my bulletin board, which was supposed to be my favourite corner in the room. I dint even care to look at the tattoos, stickers and greeting cards that tried to distract me from my mission.

Suddenly I laid my hands on a pouch, full of green, red, yellow and blue badges. It was a symbol of which ‘house’ we belong to in school. Though I belonged to Green house, I visited all the houses turn by turn. Exchanging badges, switching houses and being with close pals during school prayer assembly invited a different thrill and adventure altogether. But, the moment the house prefect figured out then you have had it. However, I managed to escape the brunt – most of the times. These memories indeed got a smile on my face.

Digging the drawer further, I was only disappointed as I was unable to find the thing I was looking for. I buried my hands deep inside the drawer and pulled out all the mess. It brought along a mangled frame of spectacles with scratches on the glass. I wore this pair of spectacles during my high school days. To avoid becoming odd one out for wearing specs and being tagged as ‘chashmish’ I wore these glasses only while the lectures were on as it helped me with a clear vision. Thanks to the habit, my eyes are weak now with high power.

Coming across all these things I realised that these things have never changed their place since years, but now that I have changed my home and moved on to a different chapter of life, these things have become more meaningful and noticeable. Particularly collecting these small and tiny things becomes a mess sometime later. But this mess does become strong pillars to rebuilt and re-live the childhood days. Suddenly these drawers and its contents made me realise that old is gold and comes without and expiry date.

Finally I gave up on the task of searching my ATM card, thinking that it might be lying in some other mess. Now I am curious to unlock the doors of ATM = All Time Memories and unfold the tales told by another beautiful mess!