Two years back I first heard of ‘Dostadning’, the gentle art of Swedish death cleaning, and got fascinated. The concept had me interested, and its first implementation worked as an eye opener for me, letting me know that the process of learning never ceases.

Being sixty two, hypertensive and diabetic, having lost many and hanging on to this desire to live long, I thought it is high time I should declutter myself of my personal belongings and live with whatever little my chancy privileged life allows, healthy and happy all the way.

To start with, I thought of giving away my large collection of books on varied subjects and interests to the people around me who matter. I started with one of my dearest students and friend…Sonia…a book lover, and I parted with four of my favourite paperback books…an Orwell, a Forster, a Bunyan and a Simone de Beauvoir that were part of me for a long time. The first thing Sonia did was to smell the books. Then she noticed the date on one of them…40 years back…much before she was born. When she highlighted this, another thought got ignited.

When I was young, I dreamt of living in a room full of books, surrounded by books, trampled by books. And that exactly happened when I had a room of my own after my college days. With whatever little I earned, I bought books, the collection grew, the room got over-flooded and the collection spilled over the other rooms of the house. But when I saw a book taking 40 years to be at somebody else’s hand, I thought what justification was there for the book to lie idle on my bookshelf, when the book could have travelled and touched many souls and minds all these years?

Parting with my collection of books is now for me a joy in giving, and living an uncluttered life. It is as if I am extending my bookshelves, encroaching other people’s personal libraries, and being in an extended space that is my enlarged home.

And indeed, the Earth is my home, our home. When we can do away with things as necessary as books, we can do the same with other things too. So along with the books, I started giving away the paintings from my collection, the art objects that adorned my showcases, the kitchen utensils that were excess, and the crockery that remained unused.

This means, I was leading a life in abundance, unnecessarily, while my real home was never restricted to my house but an extension into the world at large. Had I realized this when I was young, I could have led a different, responsible and sustainable life. And this is why I share my thoughts and stories with children I know, so that they don’t lose time, and there is no time to lose either.

I embraced veganism almost three years back. I was always a nature lover and simultaneously an idiot, conditioned since childhood, a hardcore speciesist treating members of one species as morally more important than others, but not that I realized this before I turned vegan. It was when my intense disgust towards humans became unbearable that I gave up eating and using animal flesh and products, animals that have never hurt me unnecessarily as my kind did.

And I started learning more and more about compassionate living, felt good, and started giving away more including leather, animal tested products, visiting zoos, marine parks, aquariums and not riding horse driven carriages and the like. The more I gave up, the more I gained and the more I felt good.

I have been refusing plastic carry bags for the last 20 years, carrying my own folding bag always, coming handy when need be. But during the past few years, I realized much more and shifted to bamboo toothbrush, metal blades and razor, carried my own biodegradable straw and cutlery and got interested in plastic free, zero waste, sustainable living. More than that, I started discussing these issues with human children who I consider to be the next best living things after animals and plants. An antinatalist myself, I think the best way to save the planet is to motivate other people’s children and have them lead the way.

I realized less is more when once again my dear Sonia asked me to listen to a talk by sweary-self-help author Sarah Knight. The subject touched me more than the talk itself. While in the process of decluttering my belongings for past couple of years, I realized that mental decluttering was equally important, if not more. I was impressed by Sarah’s ‘NotSorryMethod’, to stop spending time I don’t have with people I don’t like doing things I don’t want to do. Decluttering my mind led to giving less importance to the people around, distancing many and giving more importance to the Earth as a wholesome living entity…in crisis.

I write this while sitting at my favourite tea shop in Kolkata, having vegan lunch over Spaghetti Aglio e Olio and Hot Chocolate. I could have had plain white rice and lentil at some other place, but today’s choice is helping me write this blog in peace…for my wonderful friend Richa of The Happy Turtle.

Speaking of First Flush (the teashop I am in love with), I have seen this place being transformed in the last few years. As a regular, I must have influenced this wonderful, cozy, child-friendly shop to include an exclusive vegan menu, shift to bamboo and paper straws from the plastic ones, use biodegradable cutlery during block bookings and parties, half-fill the glasses, saving water…and more. It is here that I sit with the children and discuss environment, learn music, play games, share stories and dream of peace, equality and a better world.

It is here that I worked on an architecture competition with two of my young students Suchitrak and Bidisha. We designed a Tiny House, encouraging one to live with bare minimum. The process was an eye opener for all of us and I am sure the youngsters’ minds are embedded with issues important and necessary.

The less you live with, the more you embrace. This reminds me of a story where a Zen monk upon arriving his cottage in the evening finds everything stolen. As he looks at the night sky from his empty room, he tells himself, “The thief left the moon at my window!”

Less is more, indeed. Still hopeful, more or less!

~ Subrata Ghosh

About The Author:

I am an architect practicing in Kolkata, also working with children and young adults for the last 35 years. I turned vegan three years back and am trying to live plastic free for the last 20 years.

Presently, I have almost got rid of one time plastic use. An antinatalist myself, I am forced to think of voluntary extinction of the humankind if we do not change ourselves and actively participate to save the only planet the we have.