JOIN USThe smallest of things sometimes lead to pursuing a hobby. For some, it’s the passion of creating something, for others, it’s just a pastime.
For Suresh Jambur, a user-experience consultant, it all began when his eyes fell upon an interesting thing in his drink –– a stirrer. While most just use it to mix their drink and throw it, Suresh says that he couldn’t help observing the interesting design and the beauty it added to the drink. These little sticks created a curiosity in him.
It’s been a little over 12 years now since this hobby began and Suresh has collected over a 100 stirrers, each different from the other.
Not all are long cylindrical sticks. What sets them apart is the shape on the top and the bottom of the stirrer. Some have the shape of a heart, a star or just plain oval.
Then there are also those with a small guitar, a bat and even a human form on the stirrer. Even the colours are very striking and vibrant.
“A lot depends on the brand. Some are just plain with the brand name printed on it and some of them have the shape of the logo itself. I have always been on the look out for interesting items. And these stirrers really caught my eye. Now, no matter where I’m travelling, I always keep an eye for the stirrers,” says Suresh.
Most of the stirrers are collected from India, Sri Lanka and America. But at times, his friends have also contributed to his collection, whenever they are travelling.
“Initially, every time I go to a new place, I always like to have a look at the stirrer there. Seeing my curiosity, I can see a big question mark on the faces of the waiters. But they are always happy that there is someone who collects these items and give it to me for free,” he adds. Out of his collection, there are many which have a special place.
One of them being the stirrer from Jack Daniels. The head of the stirrer is in shape of a man. “It is that of the founder of the brand” he says and adds, “This was the only stirrer I have bought. It was a souvenir from the factory that I visited. This really struck to me as I have never seen anything like this before,” he adds.
Not all of them are from liquor brands. In the course of his hobby, Suresh realised that even coffee brands make their own type of stirrers.
“I have three pairs of stirrers from coffee brands and two of them are from airlines, which I am very fond off,” he says.
Suresh generally collects two of each brand. The reason, he says, is unknown, but ever since he started collecting the stirrers, he has always ensured to keep a pair. While he stores them in a shoe box, he rarely uses any of these stirrers. “I don’t really use these at home. I just collect them as they are not only nice to look at but each one also has a special memory attached to it,” he says.
Along with the shape, even the material varies. “Most of them are made either out of hard plastic or wood. The wooden ones are really unique. And most of them are made out of re-cycled plastic,” he adds. “I don’t feel there is something missing in my collection. Anytime I find an interesting stirrer, I just add it to my collection,” he explains.
At the same time, he has also observed that many places have stopped keeping them.
“I don’t know what the reason is but of late, many joints don’t really provide these stirrers anymore. It’s sad because they are really useful and are creative pieces of work,” he sums up.