Buckets

 We had iron buckets in the bathrooms at our home in Jharia. Plastic buckets were not used as they broke easily. We had aluminium buckets which were lighter. We used them to carry water up the staircase from the chamber on the ground floor. Our kitchen had a steel bucket, which was precious. Some people  used an iron rod as a heater for water, and they had one plastic bucket to heat the water. We had a geyser and that too not the instant one. We used to keep the geyser on for a few hours at night, as we were six children bathing at five a.m. before leaving for school. Winters electricity used to go in the night. Some times water was kept in an old aluminium pot on the Chulha, which was dying. Usually the custom was to cool the fire in the Chula at night. We did not keep the fire burning. Everyone and everything was put to rest at night. In our wooden Mandir at home, there was a custom to put our Gods to sleep and wake them up in the morning.  Flowers were removed and Mom's hand knitted woollen shawl was put over Bhagwanji.We had a Shayan Arti, which went like 'Podhe Prabhu, Sakal Muni ke Shyam'.  In the morning, Bhagwanji was woken up with the jingling of the Ghanta or bells and a Bhajan which said "Jaago Lala Jaago, Nand Kishor jaago".... Dhoop, Diya Agarbatti, Mala and Puja was something that came to us naturally in that environment. Bhagwan was a part of us. When we kept the Bhog in the Mandir, we sang the Thaal  "Jamo thaal Jeevan Jaavu Vaari"..... Every dish offered to Ishwar is described including the Paan or the betel leaf at the end of the meal. 

'Mukhwaas' is a big thing among Gujaratis. Every household has a variety of Mukhwas and it is usually made at home and not store bought. It has various digestive seeds which are dry roasted on slow fire. Paan, which as children we were told is bad to eat and will spoil our teeth, is actually very good for health. It helps not only in digestion but is very nourishing as it has lot of vitamins/ minerals. It takes care of our needs of certain nutritive elements for the day. No wonder, the old Grandmas in our times, always carried Paan with them. No one in the village had vitamin or mineral deficiency because they ate Paan daily. Our Rishis had got it so right. Now we need a rational explanation for everything or else we call it humbug. Doctors told us not to eat Paan instead of saying don't consume tobacco with the Paan. I still remember, whenever we had fever n were taken to a doctor, the first thing he said was " Do not eat rice or Roti. Have bread, biscuit and milk". I am shocked that all doctors recommended packaged food and we people were conned into believing it was the best thing to do.  How the Western Pharma and consumer industry works!! Like packaged Kelloggs Cornflakes, full of salt, sugar and preservatives, are better than fresh Idlis or Upma. India recommended patent waiver in the WTO for the Covid vaccine. USA and EU strongly objected to it. Am so proud that we have not only made two vaccines for Covid, we are helping the world by giving them vaccine and all countries are asking us for the vaccine.  Plus we have the fastest and best digital drive on for vaccination of our people. 

 Two trips happened to Ikea in matter of a week. The store size in Navi Mumbai is much smaller and thereby the goods are much lesser.  Stock is minimal and old.  Absolutely no variety in the products available. Billing takes an hour on a crowded day. On an easy day, the cashiers decided to act cocky and the Security staff too. You cannot enter the restaurant after shopping . You have to go to eat during shopping. The food is pathetic and served cold. The desserts were stale. I really felt I was eating abroad when I ate at Ikea, Mumbai, because the food was so so bad. How can someone get Indian food so wrong in India, is beyond me. The food is tasteless and hardly any variety in the menu. Ikea is located so far off so you have no choice but to eat there. No Pav Bhaji , Dosa or Paratha, only cold rice n bland Black Dal was available. Though Ikea insists on an appointment to enter the store, there is full crowd from noon onwards. They should not bother with the appointments as the number of shoppers inside is not managed well. Nice stuff if you have never been to an Ikea before and it is way cheaper than FabIndia, Home Stop by Shoppers Stop or Home Store by Lifestyle. No buckets, mugs or mops, like our basic cleaning things for a new house. No pots and pans of our Indian cooking. Remember, we want to globalise the world or should I say standardise the world by 'their' standards. But then for my Indian cooking Kadhais n Bartan, I won't visit Ikea. Lot of young assistants of architects and interior designers were shopping in hoards. They were picking up every artificial flower and painting possible. I did not find Ziplock bags in Ikea. People crave Ikea for the ziplock bags as the quality is much better than what is available in the market . My In-laws s side family is always stocked with Ikea ziplock bags from every phoren trip. Used to find this fascination for ziplock bags kinda cute. Though I try my best to avoid keeping food in plastic bags or containers . Ikea Mumbai has set a couple of small little 1Bhk apartments with really small kitchens, showing how their stuff fits in well. I miss the big Ikea stores with fancy home furniture, large kitchens, dining areas n bedrooms. This is Mumbai for you with its crazy real estate pricing. 

Talking about buckets, I got my first plastic bucket when I joined Hostel in my eleventh grade. It was blue in colour and I had a  blue mug which was not matching. We had to write our name on the bucket. I do not think I knew what a Permanent Marker was till then. The bucket saga I have written in my earlier posts. The joy of the plastic bucket bath was that I could pick it up when it was quarter full and pour the water over my body. When we were young, on Sundays, all six children would bathe in the Aangan. Water was poured on us with the iron bucket after we finished soaping ourselves. Mom would always be warning us to be careful as the iron bucket is heavy and the handle can swing n hurt us.  With Plastic bucket, no fear of getting hurt. You can lift it and pour the water on yourself. You don't wait for an adult to do that.  My bath is still not complete unless that last bit of water in the bucket is not poured on me. It still makes me happy every day.