It
was (a few decades ago,) usually a natural phenomenon in the market,
when suddenly something is in shortage.. when something like
Horlicks was not available, the retailer used to guess, 'perhaps rate
is increasing'.. the new stock need not have a home-competitor with
old rates! Today, it is a 'rigging' technology, and usually, the
latest version is in stock-market!
As
a kid, observing the various categories of 'short-supply' was so
fascinating, that I discovered myself to be 'actually' looking into
availability-level of certain things, that 'ought to be there' in a
given set of, or a set-pattern of situation. “Fire” was written
on a bucket full of sand kept at a conspicuous place in cinema
theatres, and the surface was usually blood-red in colour, with fresh
spit of pan-eaters (betel leaves chewed with tobacco, needs a
spitting out of the pulp/gravy/whatever!) ... A grocer's shop has
its cash counter with a 'protective' line-up of glass jars full of
peppermints, chocolates, etc... (kids become more restless when
adults 'usually' delay taking out the currency notes out of a
wallet... 'let not the observer guess the total volume' and so pull
out just-the-needed denominations!.. the cashier takes out a few
chocolates, to avoid the brunt of that kid's restlessness... If
that was not needed, he simply substitutes small change, returnable
with bill, into few chocolates!)..
When
such things are in short-supply, I get alerted!
Certain
emotions are in a 'short-supply' in certain situations... (In the
movie 'Zanjeer', Praan saab asks in a song 'Teri hansee ki keemat kya
hai, yeh bataa de thoo...' A smile, when it is in short-supply, the
rates quoted are in 'black'!)
Certain
qualities are in a short-supply in certain situations... (For
example, as a nation, we lack punctuality! And when 'odd-ones' get
singled out... it is a matter of luck/fortune and chance how that
odd-individual gets treated for this trait... Ah! Genuine
appreciation for right-reasons, are also in short-supply!).
Proper
grasp of concepts... when it is in short-supply... it is
sought to be substituted with misconstrued ones, but with very
similar and perhaps, more attractive labels! Love, honesty,
friendship.. are traded so freely and abundantly in its 'duplicate'
(again, the popular-sense of duplicate ... is supposed to mean
'fakes'!... Maybe, duplicate heroes of movies take the credit, and
righlty so, when heroes themselves are just 'fictitious-characters'
of a fiction!)...
But,
somewhere, deep within us, there is always a seeking... (often, that
'seeking' .. we struggle to 'recognise'/identify... as if like, we
are trying to find out somebody who is standing in a dark shadow,
with the glare of light focused on ourselves)... When this seeking
becomes a little intense, we feel a certain kind of 'emptiness'...
waiting to be filled up... and then, if the situation outside fails
to provide a cheer, then very soon , this 'vacant' feeling turns into
a kind of depression too!
And
I on the other hand was so well 'adjusted' with.... 'what can be
expected from present day scenario'... used to feel an opposite
emotion, when an appreciation actually turns into diluting of a
certain 'value' in a closed group!
I
made a comment at a blog, which I guess may not really go too-well
with a few readers, unless they find a space to look at it from my
view-point as well...
Let
me copy paste that portion... here in below:
quote:
I
felt a little saddened, when I found that 'honesty' was started to be
appreciated at our work-place! I did not voice my concern though...
But I privately asked a 'stupid' doubt to the officer at whose hands
it was 'imposed' upon, to be given, that award... and he said "dekho,
yeh sab mere duty ka ek hissa hai, mujhe kripaya murjrim na
banaao"... What I asked him was "Sir ji... ek rupai ka
chori bhi Chori-hi-hota hai... that is the concept.. kya similar
concept apun ke work-place ke honesty mei bhi laagu hoga kya?"
(I had no other oppor-chutney/opportunity... to settle my score! Many
times, as a cashier, we ... not me alone.. get 'excess' one-note in a
packet of 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s etc... We phone up the customer, and he
being hesitant to say 'tum-he rakh lo'... says, 'saab, account mei
jamaa kar do'... he is too lazy to come and collect that
'peanut-amount'... Now, if we credit the account, this officer says,
"asiey chillar baton ke liye, ek voucher extra banaakar hamara
kaam kyon badha rahe ho!"... In either case, our honesty-ki-aisi
ki taisee!... We look like fools, with chillar-honesty! Not that
big-honesty cannot be stage-managed! We had excellent relationship
with costly-customers (not rich, but costly for bank to lose them!)..
and 'anytime-for-you'... they would say... drop a gold chain.. one of
us , name-hungry-idiots can pick it up, and make a show, vouched by
that customer (but that would be the end of 'genuine-friendship' for
that fellow with 'that' customer!...
We were not really too-happy when somebody thought of such honesty awards... It is okay, to have an honesty award at police-department, road transport etc.. at least public can know, work cannot happen through these people, when work is only via-bribe!
Teachers, ... under ideal condition should, never look at a student as 'my-class/my-subject-wala student, etc'.. .. 'A' student... and I am 'A' teacher (whether he goes to 'any-school' or cannot afford 'A' school...).
But we appreciate anything that is in short-supply! (Ration ki dukan wale ko jyaada salaam maartey hue maine bahut dekha hai!)... The converse is the problem (especially with spiritual field).. Unless something is in short-supply, we "become unable" (or say become differently-abled), to appreciate it!...
With this kind of an 'out-look' , I guess, I should ensure that I do not render myself into 'short-supply'.. the key to my freedom lies in being 'Any Time Idiot!'
This 'short-supply' trick, we as kids noticed it only when that 'Ragada-wala' near our school, used to shout, 'sab ko milega bhai, line se aana'... he said this so mechanically, that we had a laugh, where there were just 3 of us, and the order was only by one-for-we-3...! (My classmate explained... 'Yeh ek naya trick hai... short-supply ka 'effect' laaney ke liye.. jyada bikri hota hai!).. One thing for sure, I felt, this future generation is going to get confused too-badly about positive-negative attitudes!
We were not really too-happy when somebody thought of such honesty awards... It is okay, to have an honesty award at police-department, road transport etc.. at least public can know, work cannot happen through these people, when work is only via-bribe!
Teachers, ... under ideal condition should, never look at a student as 'my-class/my-subject-wala student, etc'.. .. 'A' student... and I am 'A' teacher (whether he goes to 'any-school' or cannot afford 'A' school...).
But we appreciate anything that is in short-supply! (Ration ki dukan wale ko jyaada salaam maartey hue maine bahut dekha hai!)... The converse is the problem (especially with spiritual field).. Unless something is in short-supply, we "become unable" (or say become differently-abled), to appreciate it!...
With this kind of an 'out-look' , I guess, I should ensure that I do not render myself into 'short-supply'.. the key to my freedom lies in being 'Any Time Idiot!'
This 'short-supply' trick, we as kids noticed it only when that 'Ragada-wala' near our school, used to shout, 'sab ko milega bhai, line se aana'... he said this so mechanically, that we had a laugh, where there were just 3 of us, and the order was only by one-for-we-3...! (My classmate explained... 'Yeh ek naya trick hai... short-supply ka 'effect' laaney ke liye.. jyada bikri hota hai!).. One thing for sure, I felt, this future generation is going to get confused too-badly about positive-negative attitudes!
"
that 'Ragada-wala"...
There was a vendor who used to sell 'saucer' full of what he named it as 'Ragada'... The main ingredient was Kabuli-chana, presoaked... the garnishings were a lot... Imli ka khatta itself was well fortified with several spices, and added only at the last moment... Tomato slices, kothambir, onion, tej-hari-mich sliced, ... all this for just 3 Naye-Paise! (and we used to ask a class mate, tere paas, ek naya paisa hai kya?.. mere paas sirf 2 hai... kal de doonga tere ko)... He has a small stove below a very large circular plate with a rim around which can hold about 5 litres of steaming ragada-base-stuff any time!.. It was too difficult to pass by that push-cart, without feeling the fragrance emitting from it... Even our 'drill-master' who used to warn us 'officially' that it is not good to eat such 'open-to-dust' items on road side, used to engage one of us to 'take a plate to a shop-wala some 100 yards away, where he would be 'awaiting' his quota.. the 'reward' for that kid is 'half-plate-free' from Ragada wala!... It was only during two weeks prior to exam dates, that the sales was poor (fever , dysentery, diarrhea etc ka darr.. But, I was not an easy victim to such fear... somehow my body knew, how to throw out 'needless-garbage'.. we drank water from a tank, which never knew the spelling of 'cleaning' in all its life-time! There was a whole world of 'biology' at the base of its inside.. I happened to get a peep while trying to hide at its roof-top, a small gap, during our chor--police game in Badaa-interval...).
We were quite clear about sincerity, honesty, etc... due to such 'live-examples'... And therefore, this 'transitional-society'... the set of 'transitional-generations' happened to give an immense and a very rare experience about 'dilution' of traditional values, where 'reverence' to a teacher had to become turned into a 'show of respect' too!
Unquote:
There was a vendor who used to sell 'saucer' full of what he named it as 'Ragada'... The main ingredient was Kabuli-chana, presoaked... the garnishings were a lot... Imli ka khatta itself was well fortified with several spices, and added only at the last moment... Tomato slices, kothambir, onion, tej-hari-mich sliced, ... all this for just 3 Naye-Paise! (and we used to ask a class mate, tere paas, ek naya paisa hai kya?.. mere paas sirf 2 hai... kal de doonga tere ko)... He has a small stove below a very large circular plate with a rim around which can hold about 5 litres of steaming ragada-base-stuff any time!.. It was too difficult to pass by that push-cart, without feeling the fragrance emitting from it... Even our 'drill-master' who used to warn us 'officially' that it is not good to eat such 'open-to-dust' items on road side, used to engage one of us to 'take a plate to a shop-wala some 100 yards away, where he would be 'awaiting' his quota.. the 'reward' for that kid is 'half-plate-free' from Ragada wala!... It was only during two weeks prior to exam dates, that the sales was poor (fever , dysentery, diarrhea etc ka darr.. But, I was not an easy victim to such fear... somehow my body knew, how to throw out 'needless-garbage'.. we drank water from a tank, which never knew the spelling of 'cleaning' in all its life-time! There was a whole world of 'biology' at the base of its inside.. I happened to get a peep while trying to hide at its roof-top, a small gap, during our chor--police game in Badaa-interval...).
We were quite clear about sincerity, honesty, etc... due to such 'live-examples'... And therefore, this 'transitional-society'... the set of 'transitional-generations' happened to give an immense and a very rare experience about 'dilution' of traditional values, where 'reverence' to a teacher had to become turned into a 'show of respect' too!
Unquote:
Shortly
yours,
psn (13th November, 2014)
psn (13th November, 2014)
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