“At the precipice we change”

I am well aware of the nutritional features of Ms. Guava and the vitamins that  are contained within her. But well..it's not one of my personal favourites when it comes to fruits that i want to eat. I don't like biting into those umpteen seeds. Ms Guava was offended when she saw me buying her colleagues, Mr banana and  Ms Grapes. Guava reminded me of those good old childhood days when we used to climb the Guava tree and eat her while she was still raw.

She got my musings to begin again...Sigh! LOL!

The tree was located behind the chowkidar's (security guard) hut. Well..it was not really a hut but it was the room where the society's main water pipe connections were situated and he had some space for himself within that place. Climbing trees was an activity that i enjoyed as a child. My niece would cringe or laugh if she hears me saying this. She thinks that i am an eternal bore. Sigh...she does wonders for my self image!!! Well, coming back to the tree, I don't know what enjoyment we got while climbing this tree. The branches were covered with red ants which didn't mind biting our tender skin plus the fact that if we slipped and fell, it would be on to the concrete platform which surrounded the tree. It was just the excitement, I guess. There were days when the chowkidar caught us but we evaded him by lying that we were just sitting there and we weren't up to any mischief. I am sure he found that hard to believe as it wasn't like we had angelic faces that would convince him about our lies. But what the heck! We did escape his wrath most times. Come to think of it... I can speak of some 'insane' moments as well to my niece, provided she gets time to be away from her ipod and television viewing/mall visits.

Another incident that i vaguely remember was when John and Moncy (our childhood friends) found this piece of wood which was shaped like a normal sized carrom board. Moncy embarked on this adventurous idea that we'd use that as a boat to sail across the khadhi (marshy land behind the place where we stayed). I can't even imagine as to why we agreed to his plan and then spend hours walking through the dirty & slushy marshy area to decide on which stream of murky water would suit our purpose! Thank our lucky stars..a goatherd found us wandering in that place and convinced us to part with that piece of wood. Today,  there is no 'Khadhi' areas as these are  covered with concrete jungles plus sadly, John is no more. He passed away in a bike accident. But they are some days when my mind wanders and i think of the good old days when we spend time with each other. We used to go to school with John and Moncy.  John was the cute one. Moncy was the funny one. Moncy used to keep us in splits by enacting Laurel & Hardy stories. He was a good mimic. In those days, having a one rupee with you was like a big thing. We didn't have the concept of pocket money. Money was always with the parents. If you needed something, they'd buy it for you. If we owned a rupee, that was akin to being rich. and on that day we used to be lavish and travel back from school in an auto. Moncy used to do the calculation. As soon as the auto meter reached the number where we had to pay the one rupee, he used to stop the auto and then we used to walk the remaining distance. LOL! Today, when i see my niece having 500 rupee note with her, i think of our good old days and the fun we had with just that one rupee coin. Oh yeah, the school peon also used to sell good old Rasna (orange flavor- Rasna syrup was less but had more of water) for 50 paise. That was another indulgence apart from iced Popsicles. Today, my niece drinks 'iced tea' when she goes out or maybe some ice cream laced soda or a coke. 

Reading a book was a cherished activity. Me and sis would fight over books. It was so much fun to imagine about life in a boarding school at St Clarks or making wishes when the wishing tree came by, reading about Amelia Jane's mischief, falling in love with Mr Darcy...sigh!!!, Suppandi and his antics, Chandamama stories,  learning from Panchatantra, Adventures of Nancy Drew and the Famous Five, Phantom, Tarzan, Mandrake, Walt Disney cartoons, Tintin, the Gauls, and the list goes on....I also remember reading 'Mills and Boons' while in school..ahem! My aunt was a school teacher. She supported us while mom was yelling at us for reading bad books. Aunt said that it improved English. Hehehe! So there! That justified our reading. My niece doesn't have much span of attention for books. She gets ready made information from the Internet. Why read books while you can watch television or surf during those hours is her thinking! Her world is revolving around Justin Bieber, Rihanna and all the key singers in today's times. To think that she's just 12!!!

Oh well..times have changed. My ten paise worth, white hard mint chocolate, is non existent today. Sigh!!! So many things have got extinct. I don't see many postmen delivering letters anymore. We are a technology driven civilization. We do emails. Many may consider getting a letter as LS in today's times. LS is short form for 'low society'..Come on people..Am sure you watched Mrs. Sarabhai mouthing the words,' LS and HS' in the serial that was hugely popular?  So the postman's kind of  a rare species too! Mom misses her friendly fish vendor who delivered the fish, right at our doorsteps. He believed that mom had a good hand and 'boni' (first sale) from her first meant that his sales would be good for the rest of the day. Try telling that to the 'Spencer Mall' or the other huge westernized malls that have come up today. They'd consider a change in their marketing strategy if something doesn't sell. Mom can either buy their fish or move on...

Oh yeah..the milk bhaiya (milkman) are also slowly disappearing. They are being replaced by the packaged milk and milk powder brands. We used to wait for the bhaiya to ring the door bell. It was so much fun to see him measuring the milk, mom haggling with him to add some more etc. I guess i am being silly. But sometimes, you do miss seeing familiar faces in your life. In a mall, you get services but it's not personalized. The neighbourhood bania (shopowner) used to keep an account of the stuff that we bought from his store. During the first week of the month, he'd tally the figures and mom would pay him the amount due to him. He never asked her to pay the bill. It was a relationship based on trust. He used to ensure that the stuff that she wanted was delivered to her whenever she needed it. It can be one thing or two. Didn't matter! Behenji (mom) needed it and the delivery boy would carry it to our home. It was service with a smile!!! Don't we miss all that? I'd get home delivery from the mall for a bulk purchase maybe. Not for a single thing or two. That's the difference. In the past, the bhandiwali used to give steel utensils in exchange for old clothes. She used to check the quality of the clothes that we gave her and decide on the steel utensil she'd part with in exchange for them. Most of mom's collection of steel dishes came from her basket. While the business was on, she'd exchange her problems related to family and mom would express her concern and check whether she needed some medicines for her kids etc. Now that's a human interaction. When people buy stuff, stand in lines mechanically, exchange money via card or cash without even giving a glance at the salesperson, it's mere business and the mall can't be 100% sure that we'll return to them. There are countless such places where we can buy the same stuff. But the neighbourhood bhandiwali was assured that mom will keep those old clothes for her, the bania was assured that mom will return to buy the stuff from his shop only...the human element. That's missing in today's times. But these little enterprising folks couldn't survive for long in the face of competition that came via corporates who had enough money to lure the current generation via jazzy marketing and sales strategies. I don't resent them. But I am just pondering on the fast paced changes that have occured in our lives and how our attitudes are inherently lacking the 'humane touch'.

I read this true story about a handicapped ' cash counter kid' who wanted to make a small difference when the store where he was employed decides that they need to increase their sales and makes a request to all the employees who work there to come up with some idea that will help achieve this goal.  He decides to drop a note which said 'Thank you for coming. Please come again' into the grocery bag of clients that he attended to, while at the cash counter. In the coming days, the store manager notices that all the clients who came to the store wanted to be a part of the line which was being attended by this kid See! People like that  human touch.

Now, let me get into some theory to justify all the above. Hehehe! Sorry folks. I love Sociology and the various theories that eminent theorists have come up with. Of course, they can be contradicted for sure. It just explains our change in attitude and the reason for the same. So I am using Max Weber's theory of "Iron Cage". God bless his soul!

Courtesy- Wikipedia ( I am secretly in love with this source of knowledge)

Iron cage, a sociological concept introduced by Max Weber, refers to the increased rationalization inherent in social life, particularly in Western capitalist societies. The "iron cage" thus traps individuals in systems based purely on teleological efficiency, rational calculation and control. Weber also described the bureaucratization of social order as "the polar night of icy darkness.Weber states, “the course of development involves… the bringing in of calculation into the traditional brotherhood, displacing the old religious relationship.”Modern society was becoming characterized by its shift in the motivation of individual behaviors. Social actions were becoming based on efficiency instead of the old types of social actions, which were based on lineage or kinship. Behavior had become dominated by goal-oriented rationality and less by tradition and values. According to Weber, the shift from the old form of mobility in terms of kinship to a new form in terms of a strict set of rules was a direct result of growth in bureaucracy and capitalism

So that there's no controversy here..Let's change with changing times. We are dynamic. Who was the theorist who said that if you don't change, you'd face extinction as change is inherent in society. Yikes! We don't want to be the 'dinosaurs' so soon! So yeah, I am going to visit the mall nearby.Ahem! I have forgotten the name though. Maybe I'd just go to another. LOL!!!!

Till my next musing!!!



“What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”

Henry David Thoreau