Grandma got some pamphlets printed in which she and her friends had announced an exhibition. The theme was “Re-discovering skilled hands”!

The announcement was colourful, the theme was exciting and the purpose was big! All the participants were to display and put for sale their handmade items — it could be anything that anyone may think that she mastered in. The amount collected from the sale was to be used for different social projects.

Ladies were coming up with different ideas. The elder ones were more into stitching, knitting, embroideries and crochet work. Some were also doing pottery.

The young mums were planning to bake cakes, brownies, cookies and pizzas. Some were setting up stalls to harbour their expertise in chaats and samosas. Then there were some who wanted to flaunt their garden collection. Beautiful flowers and kitchen plants were planted in small colourful pots to attract customers. There were also some bonsai plants sure to steal the show!

“Sarah, why don’t you also put in some efforts and participate in the exhibition?” grandma asked Sarah.

Sarah was an ace student and usually scored well in the class. She was enjoying her short break as her final exams had just finished and the result was to be announced in a few days. Sarah had many shows and films in mind that she wanted to watch during her off days. “Grandma, I am enjoying my ‘me’ time.”

The next day, grandma called all her friends and asked the ladies to invite the youngsters as well. “If they think they cannot contribute by making useful things, at least they can come over and help us with the arrangements,” suggested grandma and almost all agreed.

Sarah saw the excitement for the exhibition in her mum and grandma and both the ladies were working very hard to present some really exclusive handicrafts. Sarah never knew that her grandma could knit so well! The beautiful baby sets that she had made were simply mind-blowing.

Her mother, on the other hand, had beautifully used spellbinding colour scheme to give a dupatta a truly majestic look. Amazing patterns were embroidered to enhance ‘mughal’ glory! Not intentionally of course, but Sarah was becoming fascinated too with all the preparations she saw around her.

“Actually grandma, I do not think I know anything! I have no time either, maybe that is why I cannot put up any stuff,” Sarah explained.

Grandma kept quiet and just nodded. She did not want to argue.

The next day, grandma penned down the time Sarah had sat in front of the screen of a gadget. At the end of the day, she called Sarah and showed her the findings. Sarah had also not realised that she had used her mobile to watch different shows for around six hours that day!

“Sarah, can you please tell me anything tangible that you have gained in these six hours?” grandma asked.

Sarah stood completely perplexed. “Not exactly!” she admitted.

“Are you sure that you are feeling really relaxed?” grandma again put a quick question for Sarah, which she was about to answer but the door bell rang.

Mrs Ali’s daughter Naima was on the door. Her driver was carrying some baskets. These baskets were decorated by Naima with different embellishments and recyclable stuff, which looked so beautiful.

“Aunty, I saw the videos of making of these baskets on internet and thought of putting it up for the exhibition,” Naima said confidently.

“That is lovely dear!” exclaimed grandma and hugged her.

When Naima had left, grandma noticed a very confused look on Sarah’s face, but she ignored it and set herself busy with the baskets. They were delicate and had to be handled carefully.

Another teenager Zara decided to offer her paintings for sale. The paintings were part of her school projects, but since her work was commendable, she had got it framed and hence they looked very nice.

Sarah helped grandma in keeping all the collections very safe, as most of the girls were keeping their stuff at Sarah’s home. Till the exhibition day, a large collection of different things were ready and collected. The enthusiasm in everyone was infectious.

“I hope we meet our target,” grandma said nervously.

“I am sure we would,” replied mum with immense zeal.

The next day, a meeting was held at grandma’s place in which a list was made regarding the use of the expected amount collected from the sale and the most urgent were placed on priority. For instance, Mrs Ali’s maid needed urgent surgery for her cataract, someone’s driver needed funds for the reconstruction his tin roof before the arrival of monsoon rains. Grandma’s own maid needed some funds for setting up her small kitchen business and there were other names on the list with equally pressing needs.

Sarah thought that grandma was working for some other cause but she was shocked to see that the list the ladies had made contained details of the needs of their domestic help.

‘How very considerate!’ she thought and was really touched because she had never given the needs of her maids an ear before.

The next day, Sarah held her mobile but she was feeling strange, that day she didn’t want to watch any series. She opened her drawer and took out the leftover pieces of cloth that the tailor had returned with the stitched clothes from time to time. She was shocked to see that her collection was huge. She sorted them and then sat down to work after watching a few tutorials on Youtube.

In around three hours, she had made around six beautiful hair bands! She had neatly glued sequence on her bands. Sarah was excited, she ran to show her stuff to her grandma and mum. Both of them were overwhelmed with joy!

“Sarah, you know dear, it is a pleasure to see what we have gained! Today, you have in your hands these beautiful hair bands after investing a good deal of energy, thought process and time! At least, you feel the satisfaction that you have yielded something in return of your time. Can this feeling of self-accomplishment replace the aimless wasted long hours that you had previously spent staring at the screen in the name of relaxation?” grandma asked and Sarah smiled back as she had now learnt the meaning of real relaxation!

“You have to be useful always! Never undermine the need of ‘productive’ me time,” grandma hugged her.

Later that evening a well-organised exhibition at a local club turned out to be a huge success! A large amount was earned. From the next day, prompt steps were taken to materialise the real purpose of the big event. Soon Mrs Ali’s maid had gained back her vision, and the rest of the people had their needs met. But for all of us, this piece of writing leaves a message: always make productive use of your time.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 4th, 2019