HYDERABAD: Remember those summer afternoons when a faint sound of brass bell would ring in the distance and we would wake up to the ‘hawa mithai’ wallah pink cottony balls of sugar in a glass jar selling it door to door?
And those nippy mornings when a man would sit in milky-white heap of fluffy cotton preparing our covers, or better preparing to keep our bodies warm under the quilts they made?
But where are these people now? Have they just become silhouettes from the past that keep appearing in our memories as just sepia photographs?
It’s a tragedy, that many important and lucrative professions of our country are vanishing without leaving a trace be it the story-tellers, the snake-charmers or the simple old and humble typist on a roadside typing on reams of paper according to your need and demand.
And no we are not just talking about the cities choc-a-bloc with lofty buildings, these professionals are disappearing even from towns.
Essentially, marked in the blueprint of our country they are vanishing along with our cultural map and the younger generation of these professionals don’t want to take up the jobs for less payments combined with the fact that the need of many of their services is dying out thanks to the super-fast speeds we have acquired. We take a look:
Cotton world
The cotton carders looked like merchants of clouds forever surrounded by furry balls of cotton flying around . While they disentangled old cotton we wondered at this instrument which looked like an exotic large guitar
The ultimate charmer
The dancing snakes on the tunes of the pungi is a sight none can forget. The snake charmers are hardly seen thanks to the strict rules and the lack of interest shown by people
Carrying the burden of thirst
Bhishtis from the times of Mughals are known to carry fresh water in goat-skin bags that they painstakingly would deliver door to door in congested lanes and bylanes. Their community is disappearing fast thanks to jet pumps and water tankers.
Keeping alive the typewriter
Go to any post office and in the distance under a tree the typist would go on with the clitter clatter of his old companion. India is the only country where we still have a few of these typists.
A stitch in time
Better known as ‘rafoogars’ the darners would mend that hole in your favourite frock or that chiffon sari. These artisans would do embroidery as well on fine fabrics.
Asking the stars
The parrot would quickly come out of the tiny cage picking one of the fortune cards from these roadside astrologers. Future reading from the bird was both fun and adventurous for many now replaced with .com fortune cookies!
Bear with it
How can anyone born in 80s forget the charmer with bear dancing on his tunes. Though cruel on the animal, this is where kids got to know what is the difference between a bear and a teddy bear!
You have got mail
Clad in that khaki uniform with a Gandhi cap the post man would wrrive on his bicycle to deliver a MO or a postcard. Thanks to e-mails and smartphones, these guys are not much seen in our cities.