Soaps and Shampoos

In most of the hostels that I lived in, water was precious. The water cooler was only on one floor, usually in the dining area on the ground floor. Our rooms were always from the first to fourth floor. One had to come down all the way, to fill their bottles and in my case, the Copper Matka. Water was scarce in the bathrooms too. In the Nariman Point hostel, surrounded by residences of Ministers, the rich, the High court judges and IAS officers, there were timings for toilet water . Hot water was available only two hours in the morning and one hour in the evening. There was one geyser per floor in the common bathroom area. When we woke up, even before brushing our teeth, we ran to keep our bucket in the hot water queue. There were certain girls, who would steal your hot water. Some would go and put your bucket behind and their bucket in the front of the queue. Some girls were smarter, they just stole 2 mugs of hot water from each filled bucket and ran for a bath. The bathrooms also had a queue system, nothing official about it. We would keep checking who was bathing in our favourite bathroom and then ask that girl to call us when she finished. Keeping your filled bucket outside the bathroom door helped. Some times, we would through our towel over the bathroom door. The common bath area had 4 toilets and 4 bathrooms. The walls were of the fabricated material and went only three fourths way up to the ceiling. There was a big common dustbin kept under the washbasins. One had to queue up to brush our teeth. The head bath as 'Shampooing' was called in those days, was a big planned affair. We used a bigger bucket to fill hot water that day.  And then managed to bathe and shampoo in that limited water. The NRI girls or girls of Indian origin who lived in foreign countries, they had lovely shampoos and conditioners. I was always fascinated by their shampoo bottles as I had never seen such a fancy plastic bottle and such a fragrant shampoo in my whole life in Jharia. Later when I started working, I used to go to Manish Market, near Crawford market to buy Shampoo bottle. I could only afford to buy the Shampoo and definitely not the bottle of Conditioner. I remember buying a brand called Finesse which had a royal blue bottle. Conditioner was a hair pack made of an egg of 75 paise mixed with one katori of dahi from my hostel dinner. 

Going to this particular market which sold all smuggled imported goods like crockery and cosmetics was no mean feat. I had to always ask a male friend to accompany me as we jostled through the crowds and those people I was scared of.  Every month, one planned one big purchase. One month if it was a shampoo bottle, another month it would be a T shirt for a friend's birthday, then another month would be a purse was myself and yet another month would be a pair of walking shoes/ sneakers. I remember a friend always gifting me a fancy leather wallets or bags from a shop in a five star hotel, I was so touched. We always had only one bag and one wallet. When that tore, you bought your next one. A leather handbag now was  called a purse then. A wallet was also called a purse. Life was pretty simple. We did not have n number of pairs of shoes. I used to wear my sneakers everywhere and even to work. I had kept two pairs of Sandals under my office desk. I would quickly change into it at 9 am. At 6pm, I was back in my sneakers, on my way out. Now with so many shampoos and conditioners in the market, I still have only one of each in my bathroom. I do not buy fancy ones anymore. Simpler the better, has become my Mantra. Soaps also same story, I never have extra soaps in the house nor surplus detergent powders. I remember making one bar of soap last a month, atleast. Right now, I am using a lovely handmade  Lavender soap with onion seeds, gifted by a very dear friend. Your friends really know how to pamper you. I am still very fascinated when I go to someone's bathroom and it is filled with soaps, shampoos and body wash. Body Wash was unheard of in my hostel days. 

All the Hair Spas which I was conned into, never felt relaxing to me. Because my idea of relaxation  was having the hostel bathroom to myself for a few minutes without someone knocking to book their slot. Having a friend's bucket of water over and above your own bucket was the stuff dreams were made of. Summers were great because I did not have to put my bucket in the hot water queue. When I was swimming in the mornings, I was happy that my two baths was done in the shower by the pool over and above the swim. That pool also had only one shower for Ladies. Gosh, what is with me and the lack of bathrooms. Friends got you body lotions when they went abroad. Nowadays, no one gifts toiletry items, they are considered too personal. People gift spa packages or the spa boxes where the packaging is more exotic than the contents. Even now, when I go abroad, I always spend time in the soaps section of a supermarket. I am still that little girl, who considered herself a 'have not' in this department of soaps and shampoos. I enjoy the look of soaps though now I mostly bathe with natural homemade and self made organic powders.