The drawers in the house

For some reason or the other, we have a lot of drawers in our house and they collect junk or so I believe, much to the chagrin of the ladies in the household (read wife and two daughters) I would prefer none. No drawers attached anywhere. Then who is to explain this complex issue to the furniture designers of the world. For me, drawers are a pain For example - the showcase in the hall room has two humungous drawers, which are filled to the brim. The cabinet with my collection of beer mugs has two more , which have additional beer mugs in them as well. Then there is the bedside table, which also has two small ones - the dressing table with two long drawers - the draws in the little table in the bedroom, which in itself is of no use. I could go on. Now that is only two rooms that I have mentioned but I am sure you get the drift. Somehow, the two drawers that came with the showcase have been attached to my life and me and if you ask anyone what there is in them, the answer is “dads stuff”. So dad- (that is me) peered into them a few days before Christmas in an attempt to lighten them up, lest they collapse under the weight of the “dad’s stuff” in them. I must say, at this juncture that I was shocked at what I saw within. Now you may attribute the stuff within, to me, in some way or the other but technically, it was NOT MY STUFF. Let me explain. The items in the drawer were all “man items” if I may be permitted to coin a phrase. You would usually find them in man caves, in basements, in garages etc. However as we do not have any of those fancy rooms, they items are in the drawers. Now I had definitely seen these items, had probably put them there as well but that is where the story ends. Let me tell you what I found and I am going to list the same for ease of reference. 1. Any number of phone chargers – all colours, shapes, sizes and models. Never in my wildest dream could I imagine that over the years we had used so many phones. Of course, we could have lost chargers and bought new ones as well but there were seventeen in number. 2. Plugs, adapters and connecting wires. There were about twenty separate adapters and plugs plus different lengths of wire with plugs at the end. Some were male and some female – Yes I know the difference lest you are smirking at my ignorance! 3. These adapters were in all shapes and had probably been used in the different countries we had visited. Some also belonged to various appliances around the house. Others were still wrapped in plastic and had never been opened. They belonged to hair dryers, mixers, washing machines, grinders, blenders, television sets, computers, printers, irons, fridges, music systems, Karaoke sets, telephones, lamps and the like. 4. Tools – there were different types of tools , nails , screws, small pieces of plastic ( something to do with the electric connections ) all stuff I never use. 5. Bulbs – No clue but there are a large number of bulbs. Some for the various rooms but others, which seem to fit nowhere – probably bought for lamps long discarded or else they belonged to an old chandelier in the previous house. 6. Batteries – batteries always confuse me. There are the normal A, AA and AAA. Then there are others, which once again leave me befuzzled due to their size, and shape- just can never fathom out what they were for. 7. Books and cards – Encyclopedias and dictionaries which had not been used since Google came into the house , story books belonging to my kids ( now adults) which they read thirty years ago, recipe books , school magazines from various schools over the years , books on decoration , and old cards ( birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Easter, New year , ‘Eid, Diwali, Teachers’ day . While on the topic of books , let me add in the fact that the drawer was also choked with instruction books – for appliances , various apparatus & for the cars I have had over the years in the UAE– some in English, Hindi and even Arabic . Most of these have never been read Now except for some of the books, the rest of the stuff was not mine. Then the fight began! I am not a repairperson, I know nothing of tools and I never use them. As for the appliances – if there is a wire and plug and the same has to be plugged into the socket on the wall – fine – I can do it. If it requires something to be joined to something else, if there are red, green and blue connectors or wires and I have to decide which is which, if a connection has to be made or a fuse repaired – I opt out – simple and straightforward. Finally, I just chucked most of the stuff out and lightened the drawer – made me feel better. In addition, no – Marie Kondo has not influenced me