Some Things Old Are Real Gold!

By Niggy

They say, “Old is gold”! That’s certainly true, in many cases. But this does not mean that we should clutter our surroundings with things so old that they gather dust, cobwebs and whatever else they might. I try my best to avoid being cluttered with things around me that I might never use again. So, ‘spring cleaning’ keeps happening all through the year, in winter, summer and autumn, too! This I learnt from my late mother, who did not want to keep or buy anything that was of no use to her or the family. I remember her very clearly telling my father that till the last egg was finished not to fetch new ones.

Among the very few things my mother left behind is her old ‘budget book’, which I have still kept with me.  Etched in her artistic handwriting, it begins in December 1975. It records items of expense on heads such as children’s uniforms, bedspreads, scooter tax, radio license, charity to an orphanage, gas, groceries and other things the family needed.  I was amazed at it all. It taught me that my mother managed the home very meticulously. Perhaps she felt spiritually accountable to God if she overdid anything in any matter, and not just money. She understood the value of money, and at the same time, spent where it was required. When I get overwhelmed at times at the luxuries that people have today made as their supposed needs, I sometimes recall my mother’s ‘budget book’ and feel relieved that in life, your basic needs are all you should spend on, plus sharing with others who are genuinely in need.

A pink shirt that belonged to my late father is another of the ‘old is gold’ things that I have retained with me. My father was fond of branded stuff, be it pens or clothes, but this shirt of his wasn't a fancy brand. In the year before he passed away, he was in and out of hospital. When he would get back home from the hospital, I would sometimes take this pink shirt out and make him wear it. It made him look healthy again and in the pink of health!  Perhaps it gave him hope for better health while also calming my own anxiety about his condition. Today, the shirt lies neatly folded in my cupboard. It reminds me of my father’s strong will to survive through many injections and emergency rushes to hospitals at night and his ability to handle his health issues with grace and dignity till the end.

A third ‘old is gold’ thing I have with me is a little book, a chapter from scripture, that was owned by my grandmother and kept inside a crocheted cover made by her. She gifted it to my mother and in it had written: ‘Keep reading it often’. My mother treasured it and used to keep it in her handbag. It reminds me of the spiritual values that my grandmother passed onto my mother.

Remember the ‘keypad phone era’? The small and handy keypad phone fitted nicely into a pocket or a purse. Today, it has largely given way to the smart phone, but I still have one such phone, which reminds me of a time when nobody worried if one was ‘offline’ or ‘online’.

There’s yet another ‘old is gold’ article that I have with me, the small blue laptop on which I typed out this essay! Bought more than a decade ago, in 2011 perhaps, you might think it’s pretty ancient now, but it still works, and rather well at that!

These old things that I have with me occupy a small space in my cupboard but a big space in my heart.