FIXING IT

It was a pair of small orange scissors – quite simple and cheap. While it played a very important role in my kitchen, it was not a prized possession and quite easily replaceable. So when it broke one day, I didn’t think twice about throwing it into the dustbin. But my then friend and now husband stopped me. He took the scissors, wound up the broken plastic part with thread, coated it up with hot wax from a candle and behold, my tiny scissors was back to being fully operational. Frankly I was quite impressed with him. He looked like the kind of guy who could do things around the house :P. Such guys make great husbands!!!

Anyways, it was 5 years ago and I still have that pair of scissors and it is still cutting things up quite well. It would have never crossed my mind to fix it up like that. It is exactly how most urban people live. When things get broken, we throw it away and buy a new one. We think we do not have the time to fix it or that we have enough money to buy a new one with more “advanced technology”. So what is wrong with it – you would say. I say we should give “fixing things” a chance before we jump to the store to buy a replacement. Here are my thoughts on why.

I think we don’t really value the things we own. Often that’s the case with the people in our lives too. While we use our possessions mercilessly, we take them for granted. But the moment they threaten to not serve us, we throw them away. Imagine if we were treated this way by the other people in our lives? I say we need to learn to value the things and people around us. Can we survive a single day without them? No. Then why don’t we give our scissors, tools and phones a second chance? Why not take care of them and coax them to stay with us a little longer. Take them to the guy who fixes things and get them working. Who knows how many more years it could serve you.

You might wonder - why should you take the effort? You could just buy a replacement with much lesser effort and time. Well here’s why – You save lots of money!!!

Most of the times, fixing things would save you quite a lot of money. Here’s an example. My laptop charger broke a couple of years ago, when I was in metro city in the south. When I took it to the showroom, they suggested I buy a new charger which charged me 1500 rupees. Well, I didn’t mind then. That charger served me for two years, till it broke again a week ago. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I live in a very small town. When I took the charger to the only computer shop in the town, he gave me two options. One was to order for a new charger which will cost me 1500 rupees again but I would have to wait for a couple of days. While I was contemplating life without the laptop for those couple of days, the shop owner gave me the other option. He could fix my charger for 200 rupees and he could do it right then. A little more than an hour later, I was on my way back home with a fully functional charger in my bag and the idea of this post in my head.

Is this not great? We live in India- the land of Jugaad. They say anything can be done or fixed or customized in India. Then why not use this great ability which we have around us in abundance?

Here is another reason to try fixing things – Do not fall prey to consumerism. Everywhere we see, we are being pushed, cajoled, manipulated or convinced to have more, spend more, buy more. I don’t get it why do we need so much? Frankly we don’t really require that latest smartphone or the expensive stereo but these corporations with their flashy products and glossy commercials psychologically convince us that we cannot do without them. They are just making money!!! Why don’t we get that? More importantly, they are making money by taking away our money – our hard earned money. And we give it away without a second thought. I say we say no to consumerism. Lets buy things which we really cannot do without and leave the rest. Life would easier, simpler and more happier.

I know what you are thinking right now. Of course its your money and you can spend it the way you want to. But atleast think about the environment. Each of our human products which is being built/made is destroying our world little by little. The waste from the factories dumped around, the resources being consumed, the air and water being polluted – it is not “them” that’s doing all this. It is us too – every time we buy something, they make another two for it. We cannot do without many things, but lets not encourage the manufacturing of the luxury items. Or try and make the phones, laptops, mixer or TV we own work longer and postpone buying new ones. Each time we do that, that is one less item being produced, our tiny contribution to environment’s conservation. And of course one more livelihood – the repairing guy gets a chance to live. Here’s how it happens.

Our car got some major trouble recently. The service centre gave us a quote of 75K – their solution was to replace every troublesome part with a new one – even if the part was just dented. Instead, we took the car to the local mechanic and two days later – the car was completely fixed with the same old parts but working absolutely well and with just 15 K in monetary damages. We get a new car, and the mechanic gets his livelihood. There you go.

I wonder what kind of message are we leaving for our future generations. Instead of this guzzling of new stuff which appears in the market, we need to teach them to value things. We need them to learn to be self sufficient – they should be able to fix things themselves; whether it is broken scissors or a broken relationship. They should learn to not throw away things at the first sign of trouble and learn to make them work. If we are able to pass the right message, then they will be less cruel and learn to give things and people a second chance.

There is this famous joke about how Indians use a T shirt in different ways as it ages, till it becomes a mop. I think we should be proud of this quality. Most of the country does live like this. I grew up in a home where the milk packets, used bottles and tins  were sold to the recycling guy (raddiwala for u), cream from the milk was used to make home made butter and used/torn clothes were sold to old ladies in exchange of utensils and other kitchen ware. Things were not just strewn around the garbage. But the urban lot is slowly moving away from all of this, including me. We have been so much influenced by the west and the world of consumerism. We need to remind us of ourselves, our roots, our values. Maybe we need something like the “Made in India” movement – we need a “Fix it” movement.