A common scene that we all grew up watching was the vendors with their carts selling fruits, vegetables to little toys & cotton candy that children awaited with complete happiness. The ting-ting of the bells that the cotton candy man carried gave a happiness that could be analogized with the turning of the signal light from red to green when you're rushing to catch your favorite movie.
All the ladies of the street enquiring about the well being of the lady who sold vegetables, about the rising prices, quick talks about how government is so irresponsible & all bits of too-important-to-miss-out-on-topics.
Life was simpler. Simpler than the most simplest thing we have today. Neighbors meant family, weekends meant gossiping about what happened in the next street, who passed with flying colors, who got married and who didn't. And while we were directing our ears to these gossips, we would get hushed away by mom & the other aunty's back to our play. Play time had a lot of variations. Hide & seek, goli, gilli, hop-scotch, jump rope ( I called it skipping), kite making & flying. Remember those times? It's always good to go back to the good ones and smile.
Alright. Done. Back to the present.
Any idea what is your neighbor's name? How are they? Some of you would proudly say a YES, and few others would probably be cursing me for reminding of your neighbor who set a password for his/her wi-fi. Can relate better huh? I get it.
Buying vegetables & fruits from the vendors isn't cool anymore.The malls. That's the ultimate destination.
Need a perfume? The something-something multi-storeyed mall to the rescue. Groceries? Again, the mall. Toys? Let's make a trip to the mall, because now the little engineers want to break 'Made in China' products purchased only from the something mall. Standard. Reputation.Class. Whatever it seems to be.
Now, the vendors seem to appear like pathogens. Unhygienic, poor quality, high cost. Yes, this is what they provide. The only means of survival for the vendors comes to a stand still. The vegetables stored in freezers, that completely stops all metabolic processes and is made inactive is the new FRESH vegetables. Purchasing the frozen items is absolutely okay with us but not the ones that these vendors carry from the market till your doorstep everyday. Fair enough right? Frozen is better, for it comes packed in labelled packets with the so & so brand names. A rupee extra to the vendor would infuriate us, but thousands of rupees paid to the something-something mall seems all just & fair because they gave you an offer of 5% on a random product you didn't need at all in the first place. A rupee extra to the vendor's pocket that would eventually be a chocolate for his kid is a huge loss to us than the money spent at the mall that would be an added luxury to a person who is probably on his world tour. How sweet of us to contribute this way. In fact, we deserve a huge pat on our back. Well done.
The world is shrinking they say. But shrinking to a vast distance. A huge void in the making. We have chosen to let it happen. It's cool. It's class. It's modern life as some might call it.
I'm glad I had a childhood of the former. The stories of our childhood are too vague to imagine for the future generations. Just like the theories of dinosaurs and their extinguished existence. Just in a combination of 26 alphabets is where they exist.
All the ladies of the street enquiring about the well being of the lady who sold vegetables, about the rising prices, quick talks about how government is so irresponsible & all bits of too-important-to-miss-out-on-topics.
This reminds me of the Hindi lessons learnt back in school. खिलौनेवाला , मिटाईवा ,गुबारेवाला (Toy
seller, sweet/chocolate seller & balloon seller respectively). Missing out on
these people meant a huge sin that any kid could dare to commit.
Yellow, orange, blue, white, all kinds of balloons, chocolates & very
popular 'Made in China' toys that eventually were broken into pieces in
India by little going-to-be engineers. Yes, we grew up with the
popularizing title of Engineers and Doctors and looked upon them as
idols. Well, things have changed. Some for the good and some for the
contrary.
Alright. Done. Back to the present.
Any idea what is your neighbor's name? How are they? Some of you would proudly say a YES, and few others would probably be cursing me for reminding of your neighbor who set a password for his/her wi-fi. Can relate better huh? I get it.
Buying vegetables & fruits from the vendors isn't cool anymore.The malls. That's the ultimate destination.
Need a perfume? The something-something multi-storeyed mall to the rescue. Groceries? Again, the mall. Toys? Let's make a trip to the mall, because now the little engineers want to break 'Made in China' products purchased only from the something mall. Standard. Reputation.Class. Whatever it seems to be.
Now, the vendors seem to appear like pathogens. Unhygienic, poor quality, high cost. Yes, this is what they provide. The only means of survival for the vendors comes to a stand still. The vegetables stored in freezers, that completely stops all metabolic processes and is made inactive is the new FRESH vegetables. Purchasing the frozen items is absolutely okay with us but not the ones that these vendors carry from the market till your doorstep everyday. Fair enough right? Frozen is better, for it comes packed in labelled packets with the so & so brand names. A rupee extra to the vendor would infuriate us, but thousands of rupees paid to the something-something mall seems all just & fair because they gave you an offer of 5% on a random product you didn't need at all in the first place. A rupee extra to the vendor's pocket that would eventually be a chocolate for his kid is a huge loss to us than the money spent at the mall that would be an added luxury to a person who is probably on his world tour. How sweet of us to contribute this way. In fact, we deserve a huge pat on our back. Well done.
The world is shrinking they say. But shrinking to a vast distance. A huge void in the making. We have chosen to let it happen. It's cool. It's class. It's modern life as some might call it.
I'm glad I had a childhood of the former. The stories of our childhood are too vague to imagine for the future generations. Just like the theories of dinosaurs and their extinguished existence. Just in a combination of 26 alphabets is where they exist.
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