LESS IS MORE, NOW MORE THAN EVER

Realised its significance only later in life.

- Srina P. Nair

How many of you I have heard this over and again from your parents of grandparents and didn't heed to it?

Me too! (Ooops...) I have heard it many times, especially from our muthassan (maternal grandpa in Malayalam). He was a school teacher and a well-to-do farmer for an intro.

Now, do you see a grey haired man in a ghostly white shirt and mundu (white dhoti worn by typical Kerala men) with a long hooked black umbrella in his hand?

Well, that gentleman always got stuck on the above question when he felt the need to buy anything new and picked 'Alla' (no) as the answer every time. We used to brand him the ultimate 'kanjoos (stingy)' back then when we were kids.

Be it ideas, things or people, he always practised categorising it into, I say the 3A's, Attiaveshyam (need in Malayalam), Avisheyam (want) and Anaaveshyam (desires). The three golden words, which seem to have gone out of the window nowadays. Yes, yes, I know, we live in the age of abundance.

He was a minimalist. But alas! We didn't inherit his attitude as kids and conveniently ignored these important life lessons back then.

It took the devastating second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in India, for me to sit, ponder, pause and reflect... What mattered most to me in my life? Let me first ask you? Are you a hoarder? I see you nodding your head.

Me too... Honestly, I was a hoarder; I'm still struggling not to be! I was greedy and used to hoard stuff, thinking someday I might use it and so the accumulation started.

Stuffs...stuff...stuff... all over stuff... our house was filled with stuff. Overflowing cupboards, toys, big furniture almost filling up the house, Oooh!

That's the reason, we keep banging each other or the wall all the time, gadgets, electronic items, hoarded groceries, hoarded polythene bags, card boxes and list goes on...