Thursday, June 7, 2012

Wonder years..

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_883315/TheWonderYears.jpgRemember that purchasing spree of school bags (wide ones weren't cool anymore), Bata shoes, cherry blossom polish, double deck lunch boxes and white uniform every summer? Yes school!

We boys were adorned in shorts (had to wait till class 7 to wear trousers), girls with their ponytails (I mean.. pony? tail?), armed with pencils and compass boxes (had to have a ruler, divider, protractor and a shiny white rubber .. yes.. that's what we called it). By then, our world had changed drastically from the innocent childhood of yesteryears. Priorities.. even more so.

Mom's food became boring and dad being at office was preferred. The neighbourhood kids with whom I played cricket every evening without finishing homework, school bus buddies with whom I shouted and shrieked loudly (confused it for singing for a while too), back bench buddies in school where I perfected the art of rocket making, a la October Sky style and teachers who always kicked me out or made me stand beside dustbins, mattered the most.

We finished lunch in the short break so that lunch break can be for football (with a cricket ball of course), ate Lays for their Tazos, bought Complan instead of Boost for the free tennis ball , loved the unhealthy roadside panipuri and other assorted junk, hated sitting next to girls, and collectively prayed to god every single day at the bus stop for a surprise school holiday! (no wonder some of us ended up being such staunch atheists)

We read Hardy boys, Tinkles and discussed how Yokozuna could easily beat Macho man in WWE (It was WWF until of course the wild ones took over). We were into competitive sport too, challenging each other at Contra, super tanks or a game of monopoly. Then came the glorious days. Summer holidays. Summer holidays meant 2 months back in our villages / towns, meant a long train journey, meant no homework and freedom from mom's shouting. The summers meant the heaven to us. The "fun folk" had to spend their time in the summer camps where they were taught creativity and god knows what jack shit.

Those were the days...

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Price rise, salary hikes and haircuts

Years ago, back in my village, we used to get communal haircuts. By the time the barber got home, 6-7 kids lined up and waited for him to snap his scissors and every kid got his hair cut so short that the mothers could not hold them by their hair atleast for a week to come. At that time, he charged 10 rs for all of us put together. The service was standardised. One size fits all. Shorter the better. Cut all you can.Value for money and so on and so forth.

Turn the cycle 10 years forward and welcome to Hyderabad. Owing to advanced technologies and locational disposition, the service has now moved on from door to door to a shop floor model. We now went into shops where there were a row of 3-4 seats resembling chairs we see on the stage in marriages. The shop itself is lined with sleazy glam mags and bollywood newspapers for customer retention. Fortunately or unfortunately, the tools barely changed. The same metallic scissors and the comb. The price shot up to 15-20 rs a cut. The offerings however now had 2 options.. Short and medium!

Come 2012, the landscape just seemed to have altered leaps and bounds. I am now in Bombay. I by chance, or lets just say by force, had to enter into one of those "hair therapy lounges". A.C., Vogue, computer with internet for bored souls. I ended up paying 150 rs for a service that the guy was extremely reluctant to provide. Apparently getting the hair cut short isnt the in-thing anymore. He ploughed through my hair like he was trying to invest in paddy fields. The best part was that I got an appointment for an hour later as the place was full. But thank god some things dont change much. It is still the same scissors and the same comb to weave his magic! Wonder whats next?