The refrigerator myth - the final nail

Look ma,no fridge!

So it has been a week since we sold our refrigerator. It has been an interesting week, primarily because until I sat down to write this article now, we never realized we did not have a refrigerator. :-)

On retrospection, I see the following changes have happened.

• We have a better organized pantry.
• We cook and consume each meal. At most, lunch leftovers become dinners.
• Being vegan really helps in getting rid of the refrigerator.
• We don't have dairy, eggs or meat.
• Our breakfast is mostly raw vegan fruit smoothies. 
• At least one dinner a week is a massive raw vegan salad.
• All of this combined with the other cooked meals means that barely anything remains as waste after a meal.
• If at all there are crumbs, we have the most effective way of disposing them.
• Anything that is edible is cleaned up by our dogs. :-D
• Anything that is non-edible is composted in our khamba.
• When we cut a huge vegetable or a fruit for one meal, it gets used up in the next meal. What this entails is, we don't buy unnecessary snacking options. Why will you go and get chips or biscuits when the onus is on you to consume the quarter papaya or half cabbage? :-)
• A lot of things that we refrigerated earlier are surviving fine without refrigeration - tomatoes, apples, papaya, cabbage, etc. The refrigerator is less of a preservation equipment and more of a storage equipment.

So we now have extra space, are looking forward to a smaller electricity bill (it already stands small at around 600 rupees) and are eating healthier.

Tell us again, why do we need a fridge?

P.S. We are managing right now without the alternative clay refrigerator (Mitticool) either.They are out of stock. In the coming weeks, we will be exploring making our own zeer (aka) pot in pot refrigerator. So keep an eye out for that. 

The refrigerator myth

There are three things that are present in every modern middle class household.

• The television
• The air conditioner
• The refrigerator

Now most people know that the television is superfluous but refuse to let go of it because of the addiction that it feeds.

Fewer people realize that an air-conditioner is unnecessary (be it in the cool climes of Bangalore or the dry heat of Hyderabad). An evaporative cooler and a fan do a wonderful job of cooling without making you look older ( by flooding your skin with free radicals), without heating the whole world to cool your room and without poking a hole on the ozone thanks to their CFCs.

But nobody, I mean absolutely nobody will agree with you if you say that the refrigerator is a useless piece of junk that is sold to us because we are ignorant.

However, that is the truth.

The idea of letting go of our refrigerator has been discussed often in our household, more so since we went vegan and realized we don't need to store milk or curds overnight. Just like the way we were guided towards becoming vegan, we were guided towards letting go of our refrigerator.

It has been more than a week since the compressor in our refrigerator went bust. The Godrej service center has been lax in responding to our complaint. In this one week, we've realized that out of the 5 tomatoes, one onion, 7 brinjals, 1 kg of grapes, etc., that we had purchased we ended up with a total loss of 1 tomato without the fridge.

So the basic function of a refrigerator which is to keep food from spoiling is itself an artificial function. Most food stays fresh without refrigeration. 

So what possible objections can exist to not letting go of the refrigerator?

• Frozen foods - peas, ice creams, etc.
• Frozen vegetables is just a bad idea. We take nature's bounty, strip it of all nutrients and kill all life in it by freezing and then consume it.
• Ice cream - simple become vegan. Healthier, less cruel. Even if you refuse to become compassionate, ice creams, etc., are best had as a treat outside. Trust me you'll savour it better that way.
• Meat and dairy
• They don't survive even a day without refrigeration. Mustn't that say something about how close to death and decay they are? Quit them. :-)
• Ice cold water for those summer days
• Sigh! Ice cold water does nothing to quench your thirst. What you really need are a few clay pots. Sweetest water ever.
• Store cooked food
• Why would we want to store stale food for said together? If it's just leftovers from the previous day, trust me they'll survive the night. If you are still skeptical there is an option for you at the end of the article.
• Medicines
• The only valid reason for having a refrigerator in my opinion. But then, if you lead a conscious life, chances are you will need very little medicines.

And if at all, you still think you need a refrigerator, here's an excellent option (we are planning to get ourselves one soon) - www.mitticool.in. They have excellent customer service form my experience in communicating with them so far and I would recommend them definitely.

So if you've gotten this far, here's what we suggest. Just chill chill, just chill (without a refrigerator).

P.S. It is possible to just chill chill, just chill without an air-conditioner as well (yes, even in your car not just home). We'll talk about that later.

P.P.S. We have a broken fridge for sale at very cheap rate if anybody is interested! ;-)

Introduction

Let's keep this short and simple.

This blog is about where we live and what we learn from living here.

Who is we?

Irrelevant.

Where we live?

About 5 km from the Bannerghatta national park in Bangalore in a gated community that houses more birds than humans.

What we learn?

Unlearning what we've learnt. Forgetting myths such as humans are the superior species, mud is dirty, insects are harmful, etc.