What did your fix today?

Meet Mrs. Kulraj Mohan,

We stumbled up Mrs. Mohan’s ingenuity on facebook. Carefully patched up broken pot, a torn sweater stitched back to life. Her work resonated with what repair café Bengaluru stands for.

Care giving is a response that we human being are capable of unlike any other species and positive response of care and empathy can bring about a sense of goodwill not just in our lives but in society at large. Repairing to us is an extended care-giving platform; it’s a stance that we take, a decision, a choice that can have rippling effect in the generation to come.

Here’s some of her work in visuals and some wise words.

                     A mended Plastic pot. Mending can look elegant if done carefully with nimble fingers                    

                                                                           
                                                       

A sweater gets a second life

     

                                                                                   

                                                                             Scrapper turned into a pot

When i started "saving and reusing" things there were no environmental issues. Atleast they were not discussed. I remember about 35 years ago I mended a blanket that was accidentally burnt by hot iron. I had cut round discs from a leftover woolen piece and covered the hole on both sides. My mother in law would show it to everyone appreciating my work ! 

I have been doing such things with discarded pieces of cloth, making table covers, bags and toys for my dogs. It was some 10 years ago that i got passionate about environmental issues especially plastic waste. Working in a college I found an opportunity to educate students. Together we would find ways to use green options and reduce waste as much as possible. 

At home i make compost from kitchen waste. I also used my garden waste for aerobic composting.

We dont 'buy' plastic as such but old plastic containers and bottles are used as planters. When our house was painted, i collected all the paint buckets and made designs on them to be used as pots at bangalore. Same with extra waste paper baskets.  I have grown plants in a broken scrapper and discarded utensils.  I try to mend things that are usually thrown away.

Small plastic bottles of milk and lassi are used for keeping condiments, empty cardboard boxes of liquor etc for keeping small boxes handy. The grow bags are painted and used as pots. So are coconut shells. Recently i made cushion covers from a silk saari. 

We’d like to thank Mrs Mohan for her contribution to our blog. We hope that her tribe grows in leaps and bounds.

Repair & Education

- Repair revolution is catching up in the west in the last 5 years or so,indeed they make E-waste 10 fold more than asian countries. RepairCafe Bengaluru believes there's a growing need to change or relook policies, specially in our education system by linking environment to technology and repair to life skills.

In the UK in past, people learned to replace plugs on electrical appliances at school. However, repair in schools has suffered as Design and Technology (DT) was withdrawn as a compulsory subject and decreases in size. And many initiatives promoting STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) enrichment are keen on disassociating them from repair, which is claimed to have a ‘low status’.

The persistent notion that repair is ‘low status’ is nonsense, especially given the growth of sensor networks, smart cities and smart homes, which will necessitate more maintenance and repair than ever. These will be some of the most reliable jobs in an age of automation and outsourced everything.

Not to mention that repair teaches some of the most transferrable skills: (creative) problem-solving, team work and it serves as a real confidence-builder.

Also, what is the consequence of schools accepting and reinforcing this ‘low status’ attached to repair and care, in an age of shrinking education budgets? How can schools continue to ignore care and repair of their own computers?

Lastly, if in the UK students attempting to get a place at universities, as elsewhere, are judged on their contributions to community and civic spirit – what better way to achieve this, than through activities like the Restart Party or Réparothon, providing a service to the community and sharing valuable skills.

This above piece is a data reflected from an international charity working on repair as a mainstream skill and concern in UK.

Repair cafe Bengaluru is eager to work it's way forward in introducing repair courses and enrichments in schools across Bangalore.

Travelling Smart

Life comes a full circle, it’s such a cliché but living or experiencing life lessons is a must to realize why some of our old practices are worth following and keeping up with. While I knew the need to evoke the dormant repair gene in us, direct involvement makes me sit up and ponder rather reflect how my own mindset have changed over the years.

 Many years ago I remember during vacation time, I recall my mother carrying a sewing box in her travel bag. I did not understand why she would bother to carry it on a vacation. I mean sewing is chore, and we were on a holiday! I just could not understand!

And 20 years hence here I am carefully tucking a sewing kit in my travel bag. Well it’s amusing that I woke up to the wisdom only when I had a child of my own knowing that he cannot keep a pair of shoes in shape for more than a month.

So in May when we took a short vacation, the very first day we had a torn shoe and a Cap and we were in the middle of a coffee plantation. Not a soul around, apart from our hosts in the vicinity. While sipping my aromatic coffee in the evening I took out my sewing kit and voila sewed the sandals (thankfully it was a manageable tear) and patched the cap. It was such a pleasure to fix things. Contentment beyond words.

So next time you are on vacation, who knows travelling with a sewing kit may prove to be a blessing for you as well!