14 things that make Indians the best JUGAADIS in the world...

JUGAAD is in our blood. Here are some piddly things that all of us do which help us to save some extra pennies and make the best use of what we have. Oh NO!! We are not misers, but the BEST savers in the world.

1. We take the phrase “Re-use, Reduce, Recycle” so seriously; like no other people in the world do... Saving-freaks!!!

People in no other country of the world know how to suck back up every penny of the money they’ve spent on buying a newspaper. So, when you’re done with reading them, your mother takes it to the kitchen to soak extra oil from the samosas or pakodas. Some SAVING for sure!!

2 . A very tiny soap, stick it to the new one

We don’t let even the thinnest possible soap to get wasted. If the soap gets so slim that it slips off your hands, your mother will stick to it to a brand new one and Ta Da.. the new one swells up.

ITTU SA TO THA WO...

3. No Indian kitchen can be found without a large polybag filled with numerous small polybags.

The thirst of our mother for saving any every tiny or dirty or smelly polybag never quenches.

4. We do not consider an empty shampoo bottle empty unless we fill water in it and use at least twice

If bathrooms were the least thought about place to do Jugaad, wait! Don’t we fill the empty bottles with water and make sure every tiny shampoo particle clinging to the bottle is dissolved in the water and made to use? This new ultra-dilute shampoo even makes our hair extra soft!

5. To us, plants look amazingly beautiful in a broken bucket or a broken earthen pot.

If tyres are useless, buckets are weary and earthen pots old; we know how to put it to the best use. We can make flower pots and vases and even dustbins out of them and our garbage looks the best in these...They run lifelong- ZINDAGI KE SATH BHI, ZINDAGI KE BAAD BHI!

6. What if we can’t afford a swimming pool in our houses, terraces can be used for the same.

CHHOTA BACHHA JAAN KE NA KOI AANKH DIKHANA REY!!!

Our kids can turn the terrace into a swimming pool. All they do is when it rains; they cover up the outlet pipes of the terrace with leaves and, Bang!! Swimming pool ready!

7. Buying oversized uniforms for the COMPLAN BOY!!

Poor Indian kids never get to wear a uniform of their size. Indian parents are great planners. What if the uniform does not fit this year, it surely will do the next one.

8. We don’t throw away empty sweet boxes, we pack food in them while travelling

Indian railways are the best places where lots of our money-saving tricks are visible. The mithai ke dabbe can always be used to carry parathe and aloo ki sabzi while travelling. Piles of empty sweet boxes can be found in every Indian store room or kitchen.

9. Indian kitchens have empty jam bottles refilled with spices.

You know its an Indian kitchen when the salt container reads “Complan”, the sugar container reads “Cerelac” and the red chilli powder container reads “Kissan mixed fruit jam”.

10. Thinking of buying rough copies, Oh No!!

At the end of every academic session, our kids enjoy this fun activity of tearing off unused pages from their old notebooks and their dads get those bounded to let them have a big fat rough notebook.

11. Poor remote control!!

If the remote control does not work properly and gets stuck at Star Plus when you want to watch MTV, the thought of buying a new pair of batteries will rarely come to your mind initially. One decides to purchase them only when the remote control has been beaten, thwarted and harassed to the limit that it asks for mercy!

12. Thinking of throwing away your toothpaste tubes? Wait!!

No toothpaste tube is allowed to rest in peace in the dustbins of our homes unless they have been subjected to the harshest of treatments and tortures. They are cut into two, rolled over by belans, sliced apart and even squeezed to “size zero” to make sure that no toothpaste is left in the tube.

13. The great Indian “Pochha”

If you can’t find your old favourite t-shirt, go and check; your maid might be mopping the floor with that. Indians don’t consider wasting money to buy a NEW cloth for simply cleaning the floor dirt, they put old towels, t-shirts, bed sheets and what not to use!

14. Aaanddd....we never EVER throw away empty cold drink bottles. And we NEVER follow when the plastic bottles read “Crush the bottle after use”.

No matter how many cold drinks we enjoy or the water we drink outside, never does the fetish of saving the bottles to stack our refrigerators die. We are the best plastic savers in the world!!