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28 boxes and its a wrap!

Posted by Guhan | Filed under memories, travel

This is our first major packing exercise as a couple. I earlier packed up my stuff from Chennai and moved to Bangalore, but somehow I felt packing this time around was more personal and tiring :-)
I knew we will have to move out by Sept 25th for over 3 months, but like always its a mad rush to the finish in the end. It felt so much easier setting up the empty house, than emptying out a set up house. There was a feel good factor and some excitement when we bought new stuff and decorated the house bit by bit. There was always something to look forward to when we came back home, constantly trying to improve the decor. We changed curtains, added new cushion covers, moved the sofa set around, put in a make shift deewan, rotated the table etc. Then there was a phase when we shopped for birthday and anniversary gifts in the home furnishings section. She gifted me a recliner chair and I gifted her a book shelf. During anniversary, we either got our photos framed or we bought candle stands and aromatic candles. I have been lucky to have great cooks around me all the time ( I know it shows !! ), and the wife is no exception. So when opportunity presented itself, the kitchen was updated with cool new gadgets that can assist in creating great tasting meals.

There was a quote from the movie Fight club, “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need”. I would not fully agree to that quote because we worked in jobs we actually liked and never chased cars, but we did buy a lot of stuff and clothes. No one would compliment me for my dressing sense, but after I got married, my fashion sense did get a wake up call. I was willing to experiment a tad bit more than before, which meant more shopping. The apartment closets are like a bottomless pit, There always seems space for one more item.
As we got closer to the date, we started selling off all the big stuff in the house. All the things that we so carefully bought, matched and arranged in the house. It got quiet emotional at times, specially when we saw the recliner sofa go. It was a birthday gift, and was a perfect companion after a hectic day. Then the car, memories of our fond trips to Mysore came rushing in when the new owner drove it off. One by one everything was sold off and we reminisced about the good times. It sounds foolish in retrospect that we attach emotion to wood and metal, but then its not foolish that we can actually say that the stuff we bought gave us a good life in our first home.
All our stuff packed in cardboard boxes for our relocation When it comes to packing, all the sweet memories and feel good purchases bite you back as seemingly unwanted purchases. I had no idea we would have so much stuff coming out of the 2 bedroom Bangalore house. Every time we pulled out stuff, it almost seemed like it occupied the whole room. The packing material around did not help either. Stuff was folded or wrapped into big boxes, padded with bubble wrap or paper and sealed tight with crown relocation branded scotch tapes. We constantly got into an argument about what to take, what to pack into the suitcase, what will be immediately useful, what will be actually useful, what can be given off to some one etc. Bottom line, I hate packing, but I love traveling. In all our travels so far, we have traveled lite. So the thought of carrying so much stuff to a “trip” to the US is overwhelming. We are going away for over 3 years, so are we justified to carry so much stuff ??

After 3 full days of packing, we are officially done. 28 boxes and its a wrap !!

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Permalink | September 25th, 2010

4 Responses to “28 boxes and its a wrap!”

  1. Shweta Says:
    September 25th, 2010 at 7:33 am

    Nice write-up! I could relate to so much in the first part of setting up house :) Have a nice trip and learning from experience, buy less there ;)

  2. yosee Says:
    September 26th, 2010 at 3:21 am

    Good read. Enjoyed.

  3. Jai Says:
    October 1st, 2010 at 4:37 am

    Good Luck! Missed the opportunity to interact with you in BLR.

  4. Jay Says:
    December 17th, 2010 at 1:45 am

    Hi Subramanyan,

    Nice Meeting you at frys today.
    Nice Blogg site

    Keep in touch
    Jay

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