Imperfection

Am having coffee in the verandah in my AirBnB and watching the waves of the Arabian sea. The lid on the milk pot doesn’t fit – the original broke and now there’s an ill-fitting replacement. But it works.

It reminds me of the mismatched teacups at home. Each is a leftover from some older sets. And each one is still pretty so I haven’t given them away. When friends drop by, we are all drinking from unmatched cups.

Why not!

I say this not just in rebellion of the rules – but also because I find that it is within these imperfections that stories are held.

There is definitely a reason why the perfect pattern was disrupted. The anomalies carry the tale – most may be boring but who knows what will be revealed in the story if we go down that rabbit hole!

And so nowadays I not only tolerate but actively seek out imperfections in the things I collect.

Having an OCD type of temperament – that was absolutely essential in the stage of raising kids – it is a new mindset for me to ‘let things be’ as they are.

Long ago, a collector friend taught me to look at a weaving and seek out the unique things that add a bit of the weaver’s personality to it. To see out the elements that make this particular piece stand out from the thousands of others in that category. Naturally those that are mass produced have none of this ‘soul’. But the ones that do, are a delight.

These elements may come in the form of an unplanned haphazard layout or one animal of a unique blue while all others are red (maybe she ran out of red). So over time, I learnt to love these anomalies.

And going from anomalies to imperfections takes just one more leap.

An example is the presence of incomplete animals – the poor bird lost his head because the weaver couldn’t find the space for it!

Or a change of border – maybe the original weaver had more important things to attend to and someone else completed the rug.

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Or a complete shift in the plan for the Pidan Ikat weaving from Cambodia – going from ship motifs to a geometric one.

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Who knows what exactly transpired in these … but we can always entertain ourselves by making up a story that’s interesting and plausible!

If you have any similar examples – do share them!

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jaina mishra