Throw back to my friend Saman. You all remember don’t you that she joined WHO to help clean planet earth of all the waste accumulated by us homosapiens? Yes exactly, that one! My best friend and my partner in crime, my confidant and soul mate emphatically before I found Fawad. She’s the one. You all know her by now.

Well, as I was saying, it was close to the six months of her training and I was missing her badly. Things were not the same at all without her.

As if exactly at that time the universe understood my emptiness and the phone rang. It was Saman’s mom.

After the pleasantries of asking how things are and catching up on missing pieces she made a request to help her clean up Saman’s unnecessary things which she promised to do when Saman left and I accepted her request.

I decided that I would use the KonMari method. And then I would make bags of the things worth discarding and I would let Saman give them a final sort through before giving them to charity or throwing them away.

But there was a glitch. In this method I needed to select the things that “sparked joy.” How would I know what sparked joy for Saman?

Auntie made this easier for me.

As she pointed towards her overflowing cupboards and book shelves and drawers, she commented that all this sparked joy for her and thus, she never got rid of anything. I could be savage. She needed this. How ironically was she off cleaning the oceans while her room looked like this, a crime scene sans the yellow taping and the chalked victim on the floor?

The game plan was simple. The KonMari method uses the technique of cleaning by genre above location. So, I decided to clear up the wardrobes first. They would take the most time and energy.

But before I could dump all of Saman’s belongings onto the bed I had to clean the room.

Cleaning was always therapeutic for me. There’s a sense of rebirth and rejuvenation by wiping off all the dust and grime off the floor and furniture. It’s like cleaning one’s soul and even the mind and the amazing euphoria of good health emerges.

Auntie kept her vigil on the other side. She kept my energy bolstered by bringing in snacks and sweet drinks. Her lemonade was to die for.

As the morning faded into afternoon I washed up and joined her for lunch.

“How bad is it?” she asked cautiously.

“Not too bad. I am almost done with her clothes. I found things in there that I’m sure I saw her wearing when she and I were 10 years old. So, it wasn’t a hard task for me to decide if it brought her joy anymore. Maybe it did but she won’t be using them now.”

I spoke in between mouthfuls of the delicious meal that Auntie made.

“I’m using the KonMari method. So, after clothes I’ll move onto books and then sentimental items. I may not take away any of the sentimentals though. I’ll let Saman take care of that herself. The books may need a good sorting. She still has her Secret Seven and Nancy Drews stashed in there.”

“Saima, what is the KonMari method?”

“Oh, it’s a method of cleaning up and organising your home. It was introduced by Marie Kondo's minimalism-inspired approach to tackling your stuff category-by-category rather than room-by-room. The goal of the KonMari Method is to have a house full of items that spark joy. And once you’ve chosen an item for discard you can hold it and hug it and thank it to show gratitude and to ensure that you’re grateful for its purpose being served and then place it on the mound of throw-outs. I’ve been using this method to deep clean my house ever since I came across it. It was really helpful for me after losing Noor. I had to let go and this helped me find a new path towards healing.”

“It’s amazing your generation has organised everything to help map your way through a maze of so much emotion. You always come out healthy and kicking because of it. But then again if Saman refuses to use any of these skills and strategies does it mean that she’s stuck in some parallel universe and doesn’t want to move forward? She doesn’t want to marry or have a life for herself. This disturbs me greatly.”

“Auntie I know how much this reality hurts you but marriage and having kids is not the motive and plan for every women. And besides, I think she is happy with the life she has chosen for herself.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I’ll get back to my cleaning then,” I said as I got up from the table.

Once the clothes were stacked away in neat bags along the corner of the room, I worked on her drawers and book shelves. For a sentimentalist Saman had saved a lot of memorabilia that was worth looking at. Pictures and diaries and so much more cute and emotional stuff. I didn’t read any of it but I did make sure that nothing of importance would be thrown out accidently. I stacked the giveaway books neatly and gave the room a final dust down.

It was close to 5 pm when I left saying goodbye to Auntie and refusing an invitation to stay for tea. I had to get back to my own.

My existence was also begging for a shower and a long lie down. Something which I knew wouldn’t be possible. Ibrahim will probably be missing me by now.

I knew Saman would be upset with me for doing this and I was sure that a lot of the things that I had taken out would probably be kept back where they came from but I was happy for the experience of the day. I felt reborn again. I had gone back in time and had come out of the other end a new person.

Marie Kondo promised as much and even if she didn’t I knew it to be true. Decluttering your home doesn’t just make the home neater and spacious, it makes the mind cleaner and purer too.

Try it! You can thank me later.