When a dining table was too much of a luxury, the old newspaper was spread on the bed ahead of every meal.
When there wasn’t a cleaning spray and tool for every surface in the house, old newspapers and dish washing soap were sufficient to clean the cooking area every day.
It also did the job of bubble wrap for fragile items being shipped from family home to temporary home.
The glossy weekend editions substituted shelf liners.
There were no separate recycle bins when peanuts shells and orange peels alike were neatly collected on an old newspaper.
Vomit or a paint spill on the hard floor, first port of call was the old newspaper.
Table tops were also protected by it if ink pens were in use.
Some kids used it to cover notebooks but I never gave in to that.
Street food was often served in cut-outs from old papers, back when the quality of ink was better.
Sometimes it even replaced camphor to start off a havan or the Lohri celebration.
With more disposable income and digital news, the old papers are no more than memories now.
