Bengaluru: This weekend, instead of chasing festive discounts online, Bengalureans can give their existing belongings a new lease of life. From bicycles, umbrellas and clothes to kitchen appliances and furniture, the Repair Maadi Bengaluru event Saturday offers a chance to get things fixed rather than replacing them. Visitors can also learn to upcycle household items into dolls and other useful creations.Organised by waste management NGO Saahas, the third edition of Repair Maadi is the flagship annual event of its larger RRR (reduce, reuse, repair) campaign, which conducts repair events in residential communities across Bengaluru every week. The initiative aims to revive India’s traditional repair culture, which organisers say has taken a back seat in recent years.“Currently, because of online sales and festive discounts, people find it easier to discard products and buy new ones rather than attempt to repair them. The art of repair is dying. When buying new things, we calculate the cost in absolute terms, without considering the environmental costs, including the filling up of landfills, which unfortunately, cannot give us a bill,” said Smita Kulkarni of Saahas.She added many products today are not designed to be repaired. “For us to have these larger conversations, there needs to be a demand from people for repairable products. Such events remind people of our traditional repair culture and could encourage them to ask for repairable products,” she said.At the event, 11 vendors, including tailors, cobblers, umbrella repairers, knife sharpeners and zip and suitcase repairers, will offer their services. Experts will also conduct workshops on recycling and upcycling, giving visitors an opportunity to learn practical skills to extend the life of everyday objects.The event also seeks to support traditional repair workers whose livelihoods have been affected by changing consumption patterns. Organisers point to cobblers, who were once a familiar presence on almost every street, but are now increasingly hard to find. “Whatever the vendors earn at these events is theirs. We understand that they leave behind a whole day’s earnings to participate. If they do not meet their target earnings for the day, we provide gap funding to ensure their livelihoods are not affected,” Smita said.Entry to Repair Maadi is free, but repair services and workshops are chargeable, with payments made directly to the vendors and workshop organisers. The event will be held at the Indian Institute of World Culture in Basavanagudi today, 10 am to 5 pm.
