Going strong and 'Steedy'

I get a sense of satisfaction over the sheer longevity of a hardware picked 25 years ago.

In these use-and-throw times, most of us, and especially the younger lot,  think nothing of discarding perfectly usable clothes, shoes, cellphones, etc for the most part because we want to keep up with the Joneses. So, when I reflect on the ways of today’s world, I get a special sense of satisfaction over the sheer longevity of a piece of hardware that was picked up some 25 years ago from the narrow, choc-a-bloc lanes of Lohar Chawl in south Mumbai.

It’s a portable clothes-horse – not one of those shoulder-high contraptions but of just the right size and holding capacity for a bachelor’s needs! It’s an excellent example of native ingenuity and workmanship – nine slender aluminium rods that fit into an X-shaped aluminium frame, the whole of which can be dismantled into a compact, easily transportable stack. I remember paying just Rs 300 for it, a bargain even in those times.

‘Steedy’ has been a hassle-free companion through my various peregrinations – from Colaba in the heart of Mumbai to distant suburbs like Mulund and Nala Sopara, and lastly to parental base in Bengaluru. Shifting abodes has invariably meant getting rid of clutter and  unwieldy items, but my dismantlable clothes-horse has never posed the slightest logistical problem.

It has served its purpose admirably well, come rain or shine. On sunny days, it dries out the wash in just a couple of hours.  On wet, cloudy days, placed with its full load under a ceiling fan in my tiny suburban Mumbai abode, it would take a tad longer to work its magic. There was no question of washed clothes getting dank and musty – and, not least, no complaints from the neighbours below about a dripping clothesline! 

Like the legendary bass Paul Robeson’s ‘Ol’ Man River,’ it just keeps going on and on, none the worse for wear (except for some of its plastic ‘shoes’ that have cracked or fallen off). And all it has ever asked in return is for the screws holding its frame in place to be tightened once in a blue moon – a matter of a few seconds.

When I think about it in terms of financial jargon like RoI (return on investment), I doubt there’s more than a handful of items out there in the market – certainly no electronic gizmo – that can match ‘Steedy’ in paying back the initial investment of Rs 300 many times over. And unlike gizmos, as long as there’s life in its frame, it will never become obsolete!