Oh for the Days gone by!

The sounds and smells of the past are fast fading.
The bhajiwala would pull his cart from building to building yelling 'bhajjjjeeeeeeeeeee wala' and soon enough heads would pop out of windows with orders. Each individual bhajiwala had developed his own style of shrieking his arrival, so you knew exactly which one was at your door.
The salt man would bring the sea salt in a gunny bag on a hand cart and yell 'namak le lo'. All the mamis of the building would run down with containers to stock up for it would be some time before he made his appearance again. It also allowed for a small impromptu get-together, for that quick gossip etc ...

Then there was the guy who polished your copper and the guy who sharpened your knives. It was fascinating to see the sparks fly as he ran the knife along the stone wheel.

Like the ubiquitous 'bai' today (your house help), those days we had a 'Rama'. These guys were from Andhra. Nobody thought it fit to ask them their names. They were just addressed as Rama. I remember our Rama was a very quiet, expressionless fellow whose voice we never heard. The one only response we got from him was by the shake of a head to indicate a yes or a no. But this very same rama would be transformed one day of the year when he came in a group to perform what we called the 'rama dance'. At the end of it they would be rewarded with money. If I recall right this was generally during diwali. The one year wait was worth it to watch him go through the energetic gyrations albeit with the same expressionless face

Then again, the end of every eclipse was heralded by 'De Dan Sute Grahan'. You took great pleasure in tossing a coin or a shirt down two floors to see it eagerly collected by the less fortunate.

Those days are gone.

These days you use your mobile to call for vegetables, you just throw aways your blunt knife buy a new one and you use only microwave friendly containers. Salt is iodized. As for the eclipse, you have god men telling the Librans they need to chant hanuman chalisa and wear a diamond ring on the index finger, the Arian to chant Shiva chalisa and wear a ruby on the little finger, the Pisceans to chant whatyoucall it and wear whateveritis........
Where has simplicity gone?