NDA BLACK BOX

- September 24, 2024

NDA BLACK BOX

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

24/IX/2024

There could be no better contentment when results of your hard work start to show. The satisfaction and a sense of achievement can only be understood by the person who put his all-out efforts in that project. Let me tell you the story.

All faujis carry black steel boxes called ‘Trunks’ with them throughout their career/life. For Ex-NDAs, it is love for that first black box with half the height of a normal steel trunk. It served two purposes. One, it slid perfectly under the NDA bed bug ridden bed smoothly. Second, it also slid under a second-class berth in a train with ease.

Since 1981, that trunk is still with us in mint condition. We stuffed it, banged it, threw it, misused it, made it into a settee, and stored all sorts of junk that we collected during our service. It kept doing its job without whining and a trace of rust till date. We lost its keys and had to break the latches, but still the innards are fine.

The story is not about this trunk, but the man who used this trunk and still uses it. The box has not retired, though the owner retired many years ago. We moved into our permanent abode on hanging my ‘loafers’ after serving in the corporate. Army ‘Boots’ I had hung many years ago.

This poor ‘neglected’ box held on to whatever we had packed in it. Not a twitch in its sides, not a dent on its body, not a scratch on its back, it just held on to its contents beyond its capacity. It did not take us more than ten minutes to decide that we had to throw away most of its contents when we opened it after 17 years of it lying in neglect.

What would that poor trunk have thought? That too after the latches had to be broken. The injured box kept smiling. Finally, after having discarded the bulk of the boxes and crates, a couple of them stayed, including this one for ‘sentimental reasons’.

The first year it stored ‘gins' for the kitchen. The next year, it was used to store Christmas cakes. But then, he was the odd man out in the décor of the home. It stood out like a sore thumb and had to be moved away.

All the left-over boxes were moved to the roof. They created a new ambience and made ideal seating for our bar-be-cue parties. Besides, we were going to start our rooftop garden, so all the tools and implements like the “genti-belcha-fawra-hosepipes-khurpi” etc could be stored in them.

This trunk kept lying empty and my mind kept working on how to utilise it. Eureka, an idea struck, that since this box will remain static on the roof, why not convert it into a compost bin. The mind and my conscience ‘fought’ with each other. The box still had a ‘number’ and my rank and name standing out clearly. It couldn’t be put to rot with its contents. The mind took over and said, one can’t throw it, why not use it. Thus, a compost bin was created.

All fallen leaves from the garden and green kitchen waste started going into this box. A layer of garden soil was spread at the bottom to start the process of composting. Every evening, I would carry every vegetable and fruit peels to be placed inside this box’s belly for six continuous months.

Every month the contents were churned and the results were starting to show. Banana peels went missing. Bottle gourd peels couldn’t be seen. Bindi-Ghiya-Kaddu started turning to ‘Black Gold'. The excitement started to grow.

By then, the aquatic plants had been deployed on the roof. Everyday, yellowing leaves and fallen flowers, extra floating plants started to add to the volume of this box. Within days, everything got consumed by the natural process. Compost was being made at no extra cost without obnoxious odour. Amazon cardboard packing too was added. All that vanished in due time.

Now, it was time to put the contents of that box to test. One scooped out two buckets full. There are still more than two buckets worth in the trunk’s belly. This season, our plants will be fed with pure home-made compost. It smells good and looks absolutely fantastic. It is going to do wonders for the plants.

As this ‘old man’ is composting too, he better come up with more ideas to engage with his garden. The grumpy old fellow now needs some rest having worked hard in the garden. Once the contents of the box are fully emptied, it will be thoroughly cleaned and repainted for an ‘encore’. Thank you, my dear friend.

Will my NDA black box approve of it? I wonder!!!!!!

JAI HIND