Pears and my Peeyar

-
The younger one dipped the Pears soap in a bucket full of water to see if it was actually transparent. I was raving mad at her for a moment. I love Pears soap but I don't like it all 'pichku' or soggy. Pears in my mind is still the most expensive, exclusive and classy soap. A Dove though more expensive, doesn't come close. May be because during my childhood, we used only Hamam soap. Green coloured soap bar which hardly melted when children dipped it in water. Ten of us in the joint family used one bar of soap till its almost last bit. There was no soap case in the bathroom. The soap was kept on a cemented shelf which was used to keep dirty clothes. One iron bucket, two separate taps for hot and cold water and one shower with only cold water. There was no Jaguar Mixer for the taps. The bath mug was plastic. This was just a bathroom without any toilet attached. I think it was a much cleaner concept. There was a largish ventilator window near the shower. The bathroom had two green doors with a wooden lock which slid into its bracket. The flooring was green coloured cement with white marble chips and that was also on the four walls. The ceiling was white and higher up the walls were blue. The ventilator overlooked the Aangan on the first floor. Soap was not precious but shampoo definitely was. Later we used to buy Pears soap for Dad. Johnson's Baby soap was just for newborn babies. I craved to use it. Lux soap was a luxury but I never took to it. The bathroom never felt stuffy because of the good ventilation and the big doors. Basic and yet so sufficient. Four generations had used it and yet no plumbing problems. Every fragrance and smell triggers a memory. Soap does that for me. The new age deodorants make me feel sick. They smell so fake and I see all these people on sales calls and college kids using it. A friend discovered Javadhu powder which is a natural perfume or roll-on anti perspirant. Such amazing things in India which are natural, organic and eco friendly too.

Visit to our home town in Kutch reminded me of some of my childhood trips to Anjar for the Kul Devta darshan ( Family Deity). I do not know much about the history of the place. I know my ancestors were from Anjar. The place made me feel happy and connected to my roots. Like telling my child not to waste the Pears soap was also a connection to Jharia, my home town. Suddenly Kutch felt like it had history. A place where mine, my parents' and my grandparents' maternal and paternal great Grandparents were from. I did not even know that Kutch is the largest district in India. I know it has brave people. People who have lived in harsh climates and fought the enemy. People who have all died on the Republic Day in 2001 because of the earthquake in Gujarat and the people who have survived.Streets where children were marching on a Republic Day parade and all 300 died together. The town which has come up bravely inspite of the nature's wrath. I did not hear anyone crying for the dead or talking about the earthquake. All new construction and the mourning is over. In fact, in the Yajna or Yagya for the Kul Devta, the only thing I heard the Pandit/ priest chanting was "Shri Veer Purushaay Namah"...I bow to the Brave.  Anjar did feel like 'peeyar'...mother's house for a married daughter. I looked at the Panjrapole, the first place where Dad took me. It is a Gaushaala where cows are kept. It had a feel of an Ashram. I was thinking of the cattle which perished during the earthquake. The Kul Devta temple was destroyed too. All old temples have come up in their allocated space nestled between houses and shops. Guess it makes everyone feel  safe and secure...the men and the Gods alike.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nange Paon in Navratri

-
When I was working and staying in the hostel, I kind of stopped believing in most festivals and rituals. I thought all this was some weird things which people did, it had no scientific base and why should I follow anyone. In the college hostel, vacations were time to go home and not connected with any festival except Diwali. Sophia College hostel was a cocoon in the heart of South Mumbai. The campus with an old palace building was a quiet oasis with trees and birds, in the mayhem of Mumbai. No festival touched it unless the college celebrated it. The Polytechnic had rock shows and one Dandiya night every year, which it soon stopped having by 1988. Only celebration was the Vegetable Biryani in lunch on Sundays. The Polytechnic hostel did not even believe in pampering the children with food. Memories of bread being there round the clock for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. For them, while the non vegetarians ate eggs for breakfast, the vegetarian had bread. And then when non vegetaria
Read more

Antakshari

-
Today we were playing antakshari at the Holi get together. We did not know any new songs so naturally only the golden melodies were being sung. The whole generation playing antakshari was singing the similar era songs on the alphabets they got. I realised a couple of things. In English language there is no game like Antakshari. How many sentences end with I or The? How can you sing when most songs start with I, The, Once, When and How?I cannot resist explaining the game, we all grow up with, in India. Antakshari means Ant : end , Akshar: alphabet ie last letter of the word. Akshar also means God. It also means God has the last word. Its a game with two teams and we call the teams as  'party'.  We say "Baithey baithey kya karein, karna hai kuchh kaam, shuru karo antakshari , le ka Hari ka naam." Translated from Hindi, We are sitting idle, lets do some work, lets start antakshari, starting with God's name. In Indian games, there is a lot of religion or belief in Go
Read more

Shraddh period in Hinduism

-
According to the Hindu calendar, this is the shraddh period going on.  For fifteen days in a year, the ancestors are remembered and prayed to. No auspicious events / ceremonies take place in this time. People use the tithi/date of death to invite a Pandit and feed the departed soul. It means you remember the person passed away, give food to the Pandit and the crows. People keep a cooked meal on the terrace. They try to make the favourite food of the departed person. My memories are of my Grandma mixing and crushing all the savouries with her hands and when it was in form of  a paste, my Uncle would go to the terrace and throw the food for the crows. Crows in Hinduism are considered messengers of the departed souls. A lot of people feed Gathiyas to the crows for the full year. If your ancestors are happy, then your life goes well ,is the general belief amongst Hindus. The shraddh period falls exactly between Ganpati and Navratri. One does not buy a house or have a wedding in this time.
Read more