Mihir Chakravarti

For three weeks I was gone. From what I had thought had been an orderly, methodical, organised and systematic life. Where I knew where I had kept things and how to get at them at any given time. Well that’s what I used to like to think about myself.

Well, for three weeks, as I said I was gone away from all this, leaving clear instructions to my Major Domo where to keep my mail that would no doubt collect. How to store the leisure sections of  my favourite newspaper in which I regularly did my crosswords and anagrams etc etc.

After I got back from my brief three week sojourn to Gurgaon I found that my trusted lieutenant had carried out my instructions to the tee. Everything was at its proper place and kept just the way I had left instructions for. All patiently waiting for me.

Then I sat down to sort them all out.

At the end of an exhausting day and a half I made a sudden discovery. Looking around at the overflowing WPB and the floor around my desk, all strewn with unwanted letters, advertising leaflets, unsolicited brochures announcing sale of pearl necklaces and astounding reduction in jewellery prices I was stunned to find only about half a dozen  letters that were relevent. All the tons of garbage surrounding me, the heap growing by each weary hour as I had sat sifting through  this mountain of trash, had all found their way into , not only my home, but also my precious moments that make up my life! How could I have let this happen?

I’ve been mulling this point for some time now.  How does junk and clutter grow to this huge, monstrous proportion in a man’s life? It hit me hard because I had suddenly faced a three-week accumulation of clutter. Normally, I have always cleared my desk every evening upon returning home  so that junk never got a chance to build up. Now  when I suddenly faced this garbage heap sitting right on top of my desk, I got a lttle crazy.

But it just goes to show how much junk and clutter we carry with ourselves without being aware. And it’s not just unwanted mail that I’m talking about. Junk and clutter take many shapes and forms.

There’s so much junk and clutter in our day to day relationships as well. Relationships that have turned sour and rancid, and downright toxic. Yet we carry them around, unmindful of this unnecessary load that we don’t need. Of course it’s  difficult at times to know which is junk and which is real. Junk and clutter camouflage themselves so well that they often pass for the real thing. And even if you  know that a particular relationship has actually become nothing but an unnecessary load, you can’t toss it away like  a piece of junk mail, can you? A deep sense of guilt and  misplaced sense of duty won’t let you.

 But wouldn’t we be far better off without that extra load? Without that junk and clutter? Think.

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