My architect gave me an insight recently, into one of the most neglected area, yet the ever so crucial area of the house, which is none other than the Shoe Rack. He said that while designing a shoe rack, it is important to keep in mind that a considerable amount of space is to be allotted to the footwear, and hence to the shoe-rack.

While designing the house, I had planned for a very low height, minimal space occupying kind of shoe rack. However, what I had in mind, and what he ( the architect) had in store for my house, was a completely different drawing. In my mind map, my shoe rack was to be a low key affair. But the blueprint of the architect that was showed to us before finalization blew us away! He had demarcated a good amount of space for the shoe rack, simply because his mathematics and reasoning was that usually Shoes is one item which we keep on piling up; we hardly bother to make space for newer pairs to get fairly accommodated, thus in the process the old ones and new ones all pile up in that limited assigned space, only to add the clutter of the shoe rack. This wasn’t his mere theory, but it was a part of his practical observation which he had been making for almost every household that he were an architect of. So his professional observations overpowered, and my limited insight into the whole matter could not keep pace with his theory; and so I obliged…

A tall shoe rack came into being on paper, the dimensions of which, frankly speaking seemed too large to me, but I had decided not to utter a word, and let the architect take decisions based on his knowledge and judgment

And thus, one fine day a tall, mahogany colored elegant shoe rack was crafted in my home. It had (has) six long and wide compartments to accommodate at least more than a two dozen pairs. Such was the spatial design of the shoe rack, that one day I began having this guilty feeling in the corner of my mind that I and my family might actually fall short of the pairs of shoes, and that we might need to purchase more pairs, just to see them occupy that special place in the rack!

Well, but my guilt or fear…whatever to call it, was short lived! Very soon- to be precise- within two months from the date on which the rack got installed, up and running in my home, it was running to its capacity! (I’m saying so, as if it’s some production line or assembly line of a manufacturing product, which runs to full capacity!!)

Anyways, In fact, to be honest, the space had actually ended up falling short, much to our dismay….

Now what to do— we had three options—

A. To contact the architect and ask him to craft a bigger, more spacious shoe rack! (But the very thought of it was enough to make me feel jittery, with all the money already being drained on that elegant piece!!)

B. The next option was to buy lesser, or for that matter, no footwear for at least a couple of months (knowing the impulsively indulgent shoppers that most of us truly are, doing that would prove to be a daunting task),

C. The last option was to get rid of the existing footwear, which were already occupying a leisurely place in the shoe rack, but somehow which were not being regularly used. (That way, this could be one of the most easiest and practical tasks to undertake. But, the reluctance in us to “let go” off things is so enormous, that at times, it ends up being the most challenging task at hand).

Retrospectively I recollect, that the day we had gone to our architect’s office to finalize the design of the shoe rack, he had precisely joked about this facet of human personality. He had said that it wasn’t just the shoes but practically every single corner of our houses that we usually end up cluttering, simply because we do not have that tendency to clean up the old clutter. We do not want to just let go off those things. We might not be using many such things for the past couple of years or more, but the very thought to show door or dustbin (!!) to those things, just makes us go crazy…. At that time, when he had made this statement, it had thought it was just a passing remark, or something which perhaps my architect’s wife was habituated to. But today when I recollect that very conversation, I feel chuckled completely and totally!

How right my architect was….But me? I had failed to realize it.

Well, what did we finally do? Here’s what—–With a heavy heart, one lazy Sunday morning, I sat in front of my mahogany shoe rack, which was seemingly coming over me, with all its height and width! Overcoming all my “shoe memories” , one by one I started letting go one shoe after the other, till I had piled up almost seven pairs.

And then the space magically opened up! (But of course, needless to mention that my family members were keeping their fingers crossed; just hoping that I do not step out for a shoe shopping spree!!)….Well, yeah, they got caught on the wrong foot, because I had learnt my lessons the “Clean up the Clutter” way!!!!

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