The desolate showcase

 

Twenty years back, when I moved into a new house, I decided to discard all old furnitures and get new ones. The old ones where not matching the ambience of the new house. Furnitures, even though it is for some specific purpose, need to get along with the environment of the house. Otherwise, they will be rejected.

I spent quite some amount in purchasing new furnitures. They were all sleek and trendy. Still one particular furniture stood out from the crowd. That was the showcase. It was a new invention by Godrej and they had thought many years ahead in designing that piece.

The whole showcase could be dismantled. It came in a box and it was a marvel to see the company representative unboxing it and assembling the parts into a beautiful showcase. Today it is so common that you may wonder what is so special. Twenty years back that was an amazing innovation.

From then onwards the showcase occupied the most important space of our living room. It stood there like a chaperoned elephant. Whoever came home noticed it and never left without having few words of praise for that elegant work of art. Realising how much it is adding value to our house, we gave special attention to it. We ensured it is decorated properly every time. Wherever we went, we remembered to look out for unique decorative items which will adorn that showcase. Those selected objects enhanced the elegance of the showcase.

As it happens to many things in life, the charm and charisma of the showcase started fading slowly. Its presence was taken for granted. New innovative items started coming to market and the showcase starting losing its attention.

The neglect was obvious. But I will admit we were even bit abusive. We started stuffing things into that showcase. By then we had developed the horrible habit of storing everything, even if it is not needed. So naturally most of the excesses found their way to the showcase. The junk stuffed in made it bulky. Due to years of neglect, its seams started bulging. Before long that showcase was looking grotesque. It became a sore in our eye.  When all the other furnitures still had their use, this one piece, which was our pride possession, became a complete misfit. My son, who always admired the beauty of that piece, was livid when he could not hang the LCD on the wall because the showcase stood in its way.

Last week we again shifted to a new house. This time every furniture is customized at the new house as per our requirement, ambience and of course the budget.

Setting up a new house is tiring and draining.  But what exhausted me more, however, was discarding the old furnitures. No one needed them. OLX turned out to be a platform of frauds. Suddenly I found myself in a very precarious situation.

Then we spread around word in the housing society and maids, sweepers, guards, plumber and others started marching into our house. They chose whatever they wanted and negotiated the price. Though old, the furnitures are still strong and sturdy.  For them it was a prize possession. Few of it where so old that we did not charge anything for them.

That is the time the showcase came back to my attention. I thought it will fetch some good money for me. At least the amount to pay the transporter while shifting to the new place. Shockingly, no one showed any interest in that piece. For everyone, this once elegant piece of furniture, was useless. It was too heavy to handle and will occupy lot of their precious space. It has become hackneyed and obsolete.

I had to hunt for a buyer to take the showcase away while all other furnitures were sold out. As the other furnitures found  new owners, the showcase witnessed it all alone, suppressing the unbearable sense of being abandoned. It reminded me of my son when he was young, lonely at creche, eagerly waiting for us to pick him up.

Eventually all the other items were removed. Only this showcase remained, like an orphaned child in that empty house. Its fall from grace was unbearable. I had to find a way to decently hand it over to someone who will respect its past glory. I had to plead, beseech and cajole everyone to rescue the huge object, which was a like a lonely whale who got marooned in shallow water.

At last, the caretaker agreed to move it out and keep it somewhere till the time we get a buyer or get it dismantled. I had to pay him for his services.

As I drove out of the housing society, through the mirror, I got the last glance of the desolate showcase, dumped in a corner. As I drive on, it will go away from the mirror and will become a thing of past. Nevertheless, the emptiness of that desolate showcase, which personified beauty and elegance once, will haunt me for years to come.