Original
Eleven things in every Nepali household drawer
Not the useful drawer. The other one.
- A torch, working, with no batteries in it.
- Batteries, of an incompatible size.
- Three screwdrivers, all of them flathead.
- Keys to a padlock that no longer exists.
- A sewing kit from a hotel in Pokhara.
- One chopstick.
- Warranty cards, sorted by nothing, for appliances long since sold.
- A phone charger for a phone brand nobody in the house has owned.
- Passport photographs of everyone, taken at least nine years ago.
- A rubber band ball that has been growing quietly since before you were born.
- Exactly one pair of scissors — on the rare weeks it is in here at all.
Nothing may be removed. The drawer is not storage; it is an archive.