Saath kilo now so pachees ! And he beamed a smile at me !!
WOW !! I exclaimed .
Theen Kilo saath sow paanch ! He rang out once more !
And I was really impressed !!
Hearing Hindi in a small shop in Mylapore, Chennai was the last I expected !!
Thin & short , dark & wiry, white dazzling pearly teeth, bright shining eyes – man ( ? ). youth ( ??) or boy ( ???) of indeterminate age, he clearly enjoyed his job !!
Here I was, in a narrow dingy shop filled all over with old piling Junk – old vessels , old used pressure cookers, pots , pans, brass plates and a lot of shiny stainless steel vessels hanging from the roof as well.
Not a logical place where one would find happiness , cheer and enthusiasm .
But Kumar defied logic !!
He was a shop assistant at the Indra Vessels Mart, which was squeezed between two equally depressing dingy shops in one of the small crowded by-lanes of Mylapore , Chennai .
I was there to dispose off our huge family collection of old vessels – huge heavy copper, bronze and brass vessels, massive woks, enormous pots, pans, plates, pitchers etc, etc – many belonging to my grand mom and her mom as well. Most of these would have been offered as a part of their dowry package and proudly displayed ( in new & polished & shining condition, of course ) along with other silver & gold ornaments and silk sarees in the display room ( seer room ) which is a traditional part of every southIndia
Now they were no use , no relevance and their grand value reduced to just Rs180/kilo for bronze, Rs 200/kg for brass & Rs 220/ kg for copper !!
Sad , 3 generations of prized possession getting sold at scrap value !!
I feel sad and helpless ….
Wish I was rich enough to open up my own family museum . I could have filled up many rooms ….
One room for our silver – plates, jugs, cups, lamps, pooja vessels etc, etc.
2-3 rooms for brass , bronze , copper utensils
1 room with rack and racks of books – 2 sets of original Britannica encyclopedia , leather bound Oxford and Chambers dictionaries , 4 hard bound Atlases , 3 huge Globes with heavy cast iron bases – and these would not even have half the countries that we have today , Shakespeare collection, Milton, Homer’s Illyad and other classics , Tamil literature, religious treatise , books and translations of Vedas, dozen versions of Ramayana & Mahabharata .. ......
I wonder how much of these can now be accessed thru my 8 inch netbook + Google and how much will be lost for ever !!
At least one room for the 70 odd large , old dilapated photoframes – giant frames of gods, goddesses, framed posters of elephants, tigers, reproductions of Ravi Verma paintings, some European pictures ( a couple of leonardo da vinci nudes too !! ), Gandhi, Nehru, Aurobindo, lithos of great grandfathers, family photos in sepia, and a huge steel trunk full of photographs …..
One more room for ‘ life style products ‘ - old gramophone – big stand alone / medium and small table top models – all with shining brass snaking out waveguide cones, hundreds of music records ( 78 rpm) grandfather’s wicker easy chair, pine wood study table, grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, walking sticks, walnut chest of draws and so on ......
Another room for traditional toys – Golu Bommais ( toys displayed during the traditional Golu festival during the dussehra times ), Marapachhi and Chennapatna wooden sculpted toys, imported porcelain Burmese toys, European porcelain, a couple of Chinese vases as well .
And …
Sir, your money sir !!
I was jolted back into reality . This trip yielded me 8000 bucks !!
7 days , innumerous calls to all relatives encouraging them to take away all they wanted , multiple trips to libraries, junk marts , and finally a call to Udavamkarangal – the NGO that takes house hold goods and uses them to maintain their charity and old age homes .
Mom had died 2 years back ..
And Dad slowly switched off from reality, and his Alzheimer’s was catching up on him as well .
It was impossible to remotely maintain our house .
Four generations of family heirloom
Sold for a song – sad song !!
Chhai Piyo ,Saar !!
Kumar bounced back in front of me .
With a steaming glass and a beaming smile !!
Krish..
WOW !! I exclaimed .
Theen Kilo saath sow paanch ! He rang out once more !
And I was really impressed !!
Hearing Hindi in a small shop in Mylapore, Chennai was the last I expected !!
Thin & short , dark & wiry, white dazzling pearly teeth, bright shining eyes – man ( ? ). youth ( ??) or boy ( ???) of indeterminate age, he clearly enjoyed his job !!
Here I was, in a narrow dingy shop filled all over with old piling Junk – old vessels , old used pressure cookers, pots , pans, brass plates and a lot of shiny stainless steel vessels hanging from the roof as well.
Not a logical place where one would find happiness , cheer and enthusiasm .
But Kumar defied logic !!
He was a shop assistant at the Indra Vessels Mart, which was squeezed between two equally depressing dingy shops in one of the small crowded by-lanes of Mylapore , Chennai .
I was there to dispose off our huge family collection of old vessels – huge heavy copper, bronze and brass vessels, massive woks, enormous pots, pans, plates, pitchers etc, etc – many belonging to my grand mom and her mom as well. Most of these would have been offered as a part of their dowry package and proudly displayed ( in new & polished & shining condition, of course ) along with other silver & gold ornaments and silk sarees in the display room ( seer room ) which is a traditional part of every south
Now they were no use , no relevance and their grand value reduced to just Rs180/kilo for bronze, Rs 200/kg for brass & Rs 220/ kg for copper !!
Sad , 3 generations of prized possession getting sold at scrap value !!
I feel sad and helpless ….
Wish I was rich enough to open up my own family museum . I could have filled up many rooms ….
One room for our silver – plates, jugs, cups, lamps, pooja vessels etc, etc.
2-3 rooms for brass , bronze , copper utensils
1 room with rack and racks of books – 2 sets of original Britannica encyclopedia , leather bound Oxford and Chambers dictionaries , 4 hard bound Atlases , 3 huge Globes with heavy cast iron bases – and these would not even have half the countries that we have today , Shakespeare collection, Milton, Homer’s Illyad and other classics , Tamil literature, religious treatise , books and translations of Vedas, dozen versions of Ramayana & Mahabharata .. ......
I wonder how much of these can now be accessed thru my 8 inch netbook + Google and how much will be lost for ever !!
At least one room for the 70 odd large , old dilapated photoframes – giant frames of gods, goddesses, framed posters of elephants, tigers, reproductions of Ravi Verma paintings, some European pictures ( a couple of leonardo da vinci nudes too !! ), Gandhi, Nehru, Aurobindo, lithos of great grandfathers, family photos in sepia, and a huge steel trunk full of photographs …..
One more room for ‘ life style products ‘ - old gramophone – big stand alone / medium and small table top models – all with shining brass snaking out waveguide cones, hundreds of music records ( 78 rpm) grandfather’s wicker easy chair, pine wood study table, grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, walking sticks, walnut chest of draws and so on ......
Another room for traditional toys – Golu Bommais ( toys displayed during the traditional Golu festival during the dussehra times ), Marapachhi and Chennapatna wooden sculpted toys, imported porcelain Burmese toys, European porcelain, a couple of Chinese vases as well .
And …
Sir, your money sir !!
I was jolted back into reality . This trip yielded me 8000 bucks !!
7 days , innumerous calls to all relatives encouraging them to take away all they wanted , multiple trips to libraries, junk marts , and finally a call to Udavamkarangal – the NGO that takes house hold goods and uses them to maintain their charity and old age homes .
Mom had died 2 years back ..
And Dad slowly switched off from reality, and his Alzheimer’s was catching up on him as well .
It was impossible to remotely maintain our house .
Four generations of family heirloom
Sold for a song – sad song !!
Chhai Piyo ,
Kumar bounced back in front of me .
With a steaming glass and a beaming smile !!
Krish..
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