I first posted this almost 2 years ago. And today is a good day for me to remember that we’re all a bit like these teapots; we need to be restored and mended, made useful despite the broken pieces in our lives. Enjoy!
As I remember the story, at some point in the eighties an expatriate realized while drinking chai at a local chai shop that the teapot on his table had been broken into many pieces but repaired painstakingly and put back together with metal staples along with a metal base making it reusable. He was amazed. It was a new and fascinating picture of recycling.
Taking the broken, mending it, reinforcing and ending up with a product far stronger than the original.
He wanted one and it would be so easy to get. All he had to do was go home and break one of the small teapots his wife used for morning tea.
This he did and took the pieces to the local bazaar, asking around for a shopkeeper that would know this art. He quickly found one and was told to come back in two days for the repaired item. On return, to his dismay he found that the shopkeeper had assumed he wanted the repair done as well as possible and so left off the staples and the base. He requested that the shopkeeper add those – it was, after all, what had caught his attention in the first place, and he returned home with his prized possession.
As often happens in expatriate communities, once he found this treasure the rest of the community began looking for and finding these teapots in local bazaars. They were a charming addition to rooms already full of interesting objects, all with a story to go with them. We purchased one and, delighted with the find, set it on a bookshelf much to the surprise of Pakistanis who visited our home.
I love this teapot. You can see the cracks everywhere, large staples are placed over the cracks and the metal base ensures a strong foundation.
Though broken and having little of its original beauty it is so much more interesting and represents so well the human condition. Despite the original break, despite the cracks – it continues to be useable and stronger than if it had never been broken.
Very little could hurt this little pot. It is now 23 years old and has traveled around the world from Pakistan to Florida; Florida to Egypt; Egypt to Massachusetts; Massachusetts to Phoenix; and Phoenix back to Massachusetts.
My life parallels that of the teapot. Through moves and crises, along with hundreds of cups of tea, it has survived. The teapot now sits on our shelf in Cambridge, ever a reminder that life can crack and mar us but it doesn’t have to destroy.