Haven't you wondered how the attic starts overflowing in spite of regular bouts of spring-cleaning? Even the cleanest of clean ones will be a storehouse of relics collected over the years by each member of the family.Well, let’s take a peek into the loft in my house. Ready? This big box houses all those extra utensils which are brought out for special occasions when the extended family gets together. I have to admit that I have no fads like collecting utensils, yet you’ll agree that an item or two gets added every year to the existing collection.Every time we clean up the loft, my husband insists that we discard items not used for two years. He argues that since we have not found use for them for so long, we can afford to do without them forever. So out goes the not-so-old tea set, dinner set, flasks with fading exteriors, bottles galore and plastic containers — all gifted away to our domestic help.Now if you ask me what this thermacole box contains, well, I have to let you into a well-guarded secret — it holds the precious letters exchanged between my husband and myself in the post-engagement and early marriage period. Occasionally, when the two of us find time on our hands, we pore over these emotionally charged letters and rekindle an old romance!That old case contains the best baba suits and sweaters I had made for my sons when they were toddlers. These I intend to pass on as family heirlooms to my grandchildren. My mother had done this when my sons came — clearly this penchant for treasuring worthy items runs in the family.As for the those two cricket bats in the corner, well, one may look more like the device used by the maid to hammer the clothes while washing them, but they did serve as our boys’ first cricket bat. The other bat, swathed in red insulation tape, was their first ‘‘real’’ cricket bat. It fetched the older one his first double figure score in a local match and so it is not to be discarded for reasons sentimental. Then you have a squashed football and a TT bat without a handle. We have strict instructions that these are to be preserved — along with a pile of sports magazines containing material on favourite sportspersons and matches.Just try blowing this balloon. Impossible? It once was a prized project of the younger boy. He had the brilliant idea of transforming it into a globe. The hand-drawn contours of the countries have faded but it is still valuable for us! Apart from this, I can tell you that I have a huge collection of cards, song books, diaries with embroidery designs, knitting patterns, clippings of recipes. Hmm, maybe, I should consider opening a personal museum at home to display all these much loved artifacts!
