Rozmarra
Photograph where you parked
One photo of the pillar number as you walk away. Basement parking in a mall all looks identical after two hours, and this ends the wandering completely.
Jugaads for “mall”
18 resultsRozmarra
गाड़ी कहाँ खड़ी की — फोटो खींच लो
पार्किंग से निकलते वक्त खंभे के नंबर की एक फोटो ले लो। दो घंटे बाद बेसमेंट में सब कुछ एक जैसा दिखता है और भटकना खत्म।
Suraksha
Turmeric on a small cut
A pinch of haldi on a clean minor cut is the standard household response and it does help stop the bleed. Wash first with clean water. Anything deep, dirty or still bleeding after ten minutes needs a doctor, not a kitchen.
MausamTable fan + gili chaddar = poor man's AC
Hang a wet bedsheet or khus mat right in front of the table fan and point it at the bed. Air comes through the wet cloth and drops the room temperature by a few degrees. Re-wet it once at 2am. Works best in dry heat — in humid coastal cities it just makes the room sticky.
Suraksha
Camphor for mosquitoes in a closed room
Burn a small piece of kapoor in a closed room for a few minutes, then air the room before going in. Never sleep in a room with it burning, and keep it away from children and curtains.
Mausam
Dry clothes indoors without the smell
The musty smell is bacteria growing on slow-drying cloth. Spread the clothes out rather than bunching them, put a fan on them even at low speed, and add half a cup of vinegar to the rinse. Moving air matters more than heat.
RasoiMilk packet as an icing bag
Wash an empty milk pouch, fill it with cream or batter, snip one corner. Instant piping bag for birthday cake letters. Snip small — you can always cut bigger, you cannot cut smaller.
Ghar
Chhoti cheezein khoyi? Ek dabba banao
Ek dabba — usmein hi charger, chaabi, battery aur pen. Jo cheez roz khoti hai uska ek pata hona chahiye. Ghar mein sabko wahi jagah maloom ho.
Rozmarra
Keep chutta in the bike's dashboard
A small stash of ten and twenty rupee notes for parking, toll and the tempo who has no change. UPI covers most of it now, but the day the network is down is the day you need this.
Paisa
Bulk is only cheap if you finish it
The five-kilo pack is cheaper per kilo and more expensive per household if half spoils. Buy grains and pulses in bulk, buy anything with oil in it small, because that is what goes rancid.
Gaadi
Wet cloth over the AC vent on a hot start
Before switching the car AC on, drive with all four windows down for thirty seconds to push out the trapped hot air. The AC then cools a much smaller problem, and it gets cold faster.
Mausam
Silica packets into the shoe rack
Save the silica sachets from every shoebox and packet of namkeen and drop them into the shoe rack in monsoon. They hold back the smell and the white fungus that grows on leather in a closed rack.
Bijli
Unplug the TV at the board, not the remote
Set-top boxes and older TVs draw real power on standby. Switching them off at the wall is a small monthly saving that costs nothing. Modern LED TVs draw very little, so do not lose sleep over those.
Rasoi
Tea strainer as a tiny sieve
For sifting a small quantity of maida, cocoa or icing sugar, the tea chalni is the right size and already in the drawer. Tap the rim rather than pressing the powder through.
MausamNewspaper inside wet shoes
Stuff crumpled newspaper into soaked shoes and change it after two hours. Dries them by morning and kills the smell, and unlike a heater it will not warp the sole.
GharToothpaste over a nail hole
Moving out and the wall has picture nails all over it? White toothpaste, pressed in with a finger and wiped flat, fills small holes convincingly on white walls. Let it dry fully before the landlord walks in.
PaaniCycle tube rubber as a tap washer
A dripping tap is almost always a dead washer. Cut a small circle out of an old cycle tube, put it where the rubber washer was, tighten. Stops the drip for months and costs zero.
BijliSteel plate as a TV antenna booster
For an old set-top or FM antenna, clip a steel plate or a piece of foil behind the wire as a reflector and angle it towards the tower. Signal jumps a bar or two. Half of small-town India watched cricket like this.
That is all 18 of them. बस, इतना ही।