Cleaning a closet - A therapy in itself - India Trip Saga

If you know me personally or read anything I write you know my love for Sarees. They play an integral role in my life. You may not know another thing about me, I love “organizing” anything, it can be an event, closets or the kitchen or a trip or a get together. I think I enjoy the “look” of the final product - the instant gratification. You can see the change right away.

This trip is all about both the moms, mine and my husband's. So when I came to Durg to visit my mother in law (who lives with my sister in law) there wasn’t anything  in my agenda. I just wanted to stay home and spend time with her.

The day I landed  I enjoyed chatting, eating and talking, it was a wonderful day. I reached home mid day. 

There is another thing about me - I cannot “not do things” so the next morning I started my day with a mission - Organizing my Sister In law’s Saree closet. She used to be a teacher (I was her first student, another fun fact about our relationship) and loves Saree so you can imagine. She has a huge collection of beautiful sarees. 

She is always on the go, even with recent retirement she is running the household with 3 generations, doing a lot of stuff in her social and spiritual circle, she never has the time. Also her stuff is not only in her room, but her Moms and mother in law’s room and in the room her sons are working in.

Both of her grown sons are working from home due to the pandemic. So her day is spent taking care of two sets of Moms, the 3 men in her life and a German Shepherd. Sorting and organizing sarees has no place in her life.

This morning I brought her saees to her bedroom from everywhere, went through each and every saree, looked for matching blouses and petticoats,  discarded the old and faded ones or the ones she didn’t want in her closet anymore, sorted and made piles to give away, donate, recycle and to gift.  The project lasted the whole day. I could see how easy it was for her to give away some and hard to part ways with others.I told her about Marie Kondo’s happiness philosophy.

It was fun to see that she didn’t think twice about many of her sarees but was holding on to blouses. 

Now to think of it, as I was cleaning the closet, we were sorting our lives and relationships as well. We talked about so many things in her, mine and our lives. She has known me for over 36 years and yet we discovered so many new sides of our personalities. My mother in law sat and watched her crazy daughter in law going through stacks and stacks patiently. All 4 women in the household were going through their life stories, heartaches as well as happy memories. Sarees have a way to make you want to talk I tell you.

My poor brother in law was horrified wondering if he will ever be allowed in that bedroom. 

By the time I finished I was dead tired but extremely happy. She has all her sarees accounted for, happily united with their long lost blouses and all the petticoats in one place. There is a big pile of Sarees ready to say good bye to.

I am just concerned of those “forcefully” separated blouses, have to make sure they don’t find their way back in the closet. And yes if you are wondering, I did get a couple of sarees from that stock. Are you surprised? If you know me well, that was the game plan to begin with anyway. : ) 

My darling nephew caught me in action, I would have worn saree if I knew this :) 

The calm before storm - a day before we 3 Pandey women were talking about various things and the closet cleaning idea was born :) 

a glimpse of one part of the closet

While we were busy doing our thing, My darling brother in law was busy making Shrikhand for me, A dish on demand. He is a very organized and clean person but couldn't manage the Saree closet. I think it was his way of showing how happy he was :)