By

C S Pathak

We have been using the adage, old is gold, so frequently that we don't perceive its real meaning. The word old has many connotations, Human beings grow from young to old, new things and possessions become old, novel ideas become old, innovations become old, ans new fashions become old.     With the passage of time there is a transformation in the form, it decays.  Gold is the only exception. It never gets old: there is no decay nor does it lose value. Actually, it is the other way round. Yet, all these matters are likened to gold. What prompted the wise saying?

Perhaps, the explanation for this lies in the long-time behavioural patterns of human beings. Average men and women generally are more than reluctant to discard the old things easily. They retain them as precious possessions. A good example is our old clothes. We keep buying more and more new clothes without getting rid of the old ones. Most people allow them to occupy the already scarce space in our crowded ward robes.    

We know that these are unlikely to be used, because they don’t fit, are faded or out of fashion. We may genuinely want to give them away to someone, who will use them, yet cannot easily think of whom to. We see them as they were when they were newly bought. The desire to maintain a status quo wins over the idea of making an effort to find a user.

The same is the case with old footwear, which usurps a large space in the shoe rack. Then there are polythene and paper carry bags, which the housewives keep collecting every time provisions are bought. The idea is to use them to collect household garbage before its final disposal. But a miscalculation of the rate of inflow and outflow results in their a pileup in the kitchen.

Then there are books and periodicals. There are reference books like dictionaries, thesauruses, religious books like, Bhagvad Gita, Bible or Koran, which are to be preserved forever. But many others should go out as raddi along with daily newspapers. But they don’t and occupy the limited space in the bookshelf.

Also there are many archaic laws enacted centuries ago. They are not in tune with the changing times any longer. They serve no useful purpose and deserve to be repealed and removed from statute book as early as possible. It is in the context of all such irrational behaviour of human beings that the adage, old is gold, assumes credence.