Monsoon in Mumbai

Our backyard

 
It is raining steadily for almost a week now. Heavy showers sometimes alternate with barely-there drizzles. The rain never stops completely though.

Each time the downpour eases a little, water drips from the mango trees in our backyard and forms muddy puddles underneath. A squirrel family comes out of the tree hollows to look for food. Their excited chirps fill the air. A tiny green frog somehow finds its way into our balcony. It remains absolutely still for a few minutes, uncertain of its new surroundings. A group of small black ants form a trail through the living room, trying to escape their flooded homes. Gerald Durrell would have been happy living in these surroundings, I think with a smile.

The iron grills of our balcony glisten with strings of pearl-like raindrops. The smell of freshly ground garam masala from a neighbour's kitchen wafts in through the window. It brings back memories of Sunday lunches cooked by my grandmother. K has braved the rain to go out and feed a friend's cat. I flip through TV channels idly while waiting for him to come home.

Dark monsoon clouds have forced the afternoon to make way for an early evening. I don't feel like switching on the lights yet, preferring to enjoy the untimely darkness. A tree branch suddenly crashes outside with a thundering sound.

Tomorrow morning will bring flooded streets and longer traffic snarls. But, as they say, tomorrow is another day.

Towards a clutter-free lifestyle

About six months ago we moved into an apartment that is about half the size of our former home. Initially I resented the lack of storage space. Then it occurred to me that this is my chance to get rid of clutter. What started as looking for ways to make the most of the available space, has resulted in important lifestyle changes for us:

• Buying a piece of furniture only if we absolutely need it: Starting with a couple of basics, we got furniture (bought or made by the local carpenter) in several stages. I am certain that if ours hadn't been a somewhat damp ground-floor apartment, we could do with even fewer items of furniture.

• Combine multiple functions: For example, we decided that we would keep all our books, music CDs, DVDs or random stuff  picked up during travels. I realize that on one level this is clutter too, but this is something we are comfortable with :). All our stuff needed at least three bookcases, a CD rack and a display case. Instead, we got three tall and extra-deep bookshelves made with adjustable shelves. These also act as CD/DVD racks (by reducing the shelf heights) and display cases (by using the extra depth in front of the books). 

• Do without domestic help: In my opinion this is the most important factor in keeping clutter in check. It is easy to clean if there are fewer things lying around. We do dishes immediately after meals and clean the apartment once a week. I must say that the sight of a dusty floor bothers me far less than the litter I see on the streets.

• Use what we already have: We brought along our kitchen stuff when we realized that shipping these things would cost us less than buying new ones of the same quality. So we are using the same crockery/cutlery for the last 5-6 years. If we have friends over for meals, we simply ask them to bring along a few extra plates :)

• Less-stocked but well-used pantry: Our kitchen doesn't have much storage. So, everything except rice is bought in small quantities and used before it goes bad. I don't have more than two kinds of teas or lentils at any given time. This is a big change from the days when tins of provisions used to sit unopened for months. I also buy rectangular/square containers as they pack well and can be stacked.

• Simpler meals: We make one pot dishes (adding veggies to everything from lentils to meat) and cook enough to feed two people for at least two meals. This frees up time and leaves only one or two cooking pots to wash up. We also use the slow-cooker/oven more as the food can be left to cook without much attention. 

• Think before buying: If I need something, I try to use something that we already have. Packing boxes that held our stuff when we moved have become bedside tables and waste paper baskets. Used cereal/yogurt pots are stored and will become flower pots once we start gardening. There is no recycling for glass and plastic here, so I am reluctant to throw things away.

• We buy the newspaper only on Saturdays. The internet suffices for the rest of the week. The old newspapers are generally used to pack things, mop up liquids or block cracks under the doors. 

• Television: This probably is one big mind-clutterer. We didn't have a TV for about 5 months. When we got one finally, we decided to opt for a few à la carte channels. The deal is that every time we decide to add a new channel, we will get rid of one.

So, in a way our small apartment has turned out to be a boon of sorts.

Too many plastic bags

Within a month of moving to Mumbai I have collected more plastic bags than I did in my last one year in Cambridge. Almost all of these have come from my two local supermarkets. How did this happen? Well, here the shop assistants pack my groceries (why on earth do I need someone else to pack my stuff? - but that's another question.) and they do so with a very generous use of plastic bags while I am busy paying. Whenever I see this, I point out to them that they can put everything in a single big bag and, no, I don't mind carrying vegetables, pot of yogurt and washing detergent together.

Every time I go to a supermarket in Mumbai I need to enter through a metal detector (though no one pays any attention to the beeps it generates), leave my stuff at the baggage counter and (in one particular supermarket) have my handbag zip-locked until I am ready to pay. In some places I have had my paid-for groceries locked during check-out! At the till someone writes the number of bags I am taking out on the bill which then needs to be stamped as I leave the shop. This means that I can't use my backpack to carry stuff as I used to earlier. Even though I am uncomfortable with this obsession with checks and locks, these measures supposedly enhance security (?!) and prevent shop-lifting. Surely, there must be more effective ways to achieve both with the use of monitored CCTV cameras and RFID detectors? After all, these are not uniquely Indian problems.

So what am I doing about it?

• I insist they let me carry my own shopping bags. Yes, they can ziplock it in any way they choose, although it is a pain for everyone concerned.
• The bags these supermarkets give out are much stronger than the plastic bags I have seen in Sainsbury's or Tesco's. They can be reused for shopping any number of times.
• I have stopped buying bin bags and am using these bags in my bins. I don't put out trash every day and try to use the bags for a few days before discarding them. A good quality covered kitchen bin does the trick.

What else can I do?

• Insist at the till that I pack my own groceries after they have been scanned. I can pack them better in a single bag and will do a faster job.
• I use public transport or walk to the shops, so there is no question of taking the trolley (without using any shopping bag) to the car and loading it. But I can take the trolley outside the shop, load it myself in my own bags and return the plastic ones. 
• Write to the shop management suggesting the following:

1. Start heavily charging for each plastic bag they give out. We have a  thrifty mindset and will reduce/stop using plastic bags if we have to pay.
2. Replace plastic bags with good quality recyclable/cloth bags for a smaller price. Most supermarkets in UK call these "bags for life" because they replace them for free when someone brings the damaged bags back to the shop.
3. Employ electronic surveillance to prevent shoplifting, so that people are encouraged to bring their own bags.  
4. Reward shoppers when they bring their own bags/don't use plastic.

None of these ideas are original. But all of these have worked elsewhere to reduce the plastic menace and I don't see why we too, shouldn't try to implement them.

Edited to add (July 10, 2011):

I found out this morning that both Haiko and Big Bazaar (two supermarkets where
I normally shop) have decided to do away with free plastic bags. Big Bazaar is going to charge people for every single plastic bag they take and Haiko has introduced recyclable ones (slightly expensive though). I had met Haiko's store manager a couple of months back and requested him to put in some measures to control the plastic menace. He mentioned then that they were going to roll out recyclable bags shortly. I am happy that it has finally happened. Soon I won't be the only crazy woman there who insists on using her own bags every time :)