a collector's item

                                         A Collector’s item..

                                  By

                          Vivek Hande

There are collectors of all kinds. I am not talking about ordinary folks who collect stamps or coins or matchboxes or bottle caps or ashtrays or some such mundane objects. I am talking about some of us obsessive collectors who collect for the sake of collecting. It need not be anything expensive or rare or beautiful or exotic or unique. These are the ultimate collectors. They are a proud and passionate lot. They just collect..

Some of the prized collections amongst such collectors could include objects which could genuinely surprise you. My wife has in her proud possession grocery receipts of nearly twenty years vintage; broken hair –bands(also wisps of hair from scalps of our children at different stages of their life!) and clips which nobody can use but tucked away nevertheless. She has broken bottle openers of all shapes and sizes; blank envelopes bearing letters, correspondence, invitations –only the envelopes remain- the contents long since gone. 

My mother is another experienced collector- she has about forty damaged, mangled, distorted frames of spectacles used in the past. They have been kept because they may come in handy!  She also has an awesome collection of jars which have lost their caps and a huge number of caps which have lost their jars; they continue to swell in numbers..

I have a friend who is into collecting every nut, bolt, nail which has come off the hinges or got unscrewed or come off the wall. He has an amazing collection of rusted metal-I don’t think even one has been ever used again but he is hoping to recycle and use one of them somewhere, some day. His neighbor has a very good collection of mismatched socks assiduously collected over the years. She does not throw away torn, frayed or solitary pieces-they all go into a beautiful basket where they join tattered vests, undergarments with holes and handkerchiefs beyond human use. Incidentally , she is also into footwear- she has a staggering collection of lonely shoes(all by themselves); forlorn shoes(paired ,but beyond recognition)worn out(some are of nearly twenty year plus vintage)- to her credit, she does often think of throwing some of them away but somehow gets overcome by emotion and can’t let go off them .

Then there are these paper collectors- every scrap seems important. Bills and receipts three decades old-telephone bills, electricity bills, school fees receipts in respect of kids who have since got children of their own-; ticket stubs; airlines boarding cards; dry cleaner’s receipts; tailor’s bill- you really never know when you might need them; one may need to produce receipts for exchanging stuff; one may need receipts to claim refunds – every piece of paper is of national importance.

These collectors are really made of stern stuff. You can take away the collection; burn it, bin it, ban it but you can’t take the collector out of these folks. Why does one amass/hoard /pile stuff which is likely to be redundant, worthless and inefficient? What drives these collectors? These are questions which have no sensible answer, no scientific explanation. Till then, the collectors will collect!!!