Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Door to door .....with freebies?!!

"MeyDum, ondhu pyaket thogonDre, ondhu spoon free" (madam if you buy one packet, you'll get one spoon free) Yes....and then 12 packets were bought...how else could you make a set of 12 spoons for your cutlery set?!!!
Remember those times...( i've lost out on that scenario, 'cos I moved into apartments) I dont know their skill , but all I can remember is them ringing the doorbell exactly 9 minutes after you dozed off into noon nap..ech....they would refuse to go away....if you didnt open the door and look at their plastered faces...they would keep their grimy fingers on that drasted doorbell of yours.

And then when you opened the door, they would erupt, spontaneously into their tirade of...."buy one take one free"....and even if you did open the door and bought something...they would furiously scrawl something ineligible in black nonwashable something on your neatly painted wall.. :( . Reminds me of Alladin and the 40 thieves.. gulp

How many badam packets has my mother in law bought..." Ille, spoon nalla irukku" (no, the spoons are of good quality) she would say and I would go....eekss....but what would I do with 12 badam packets???? I hate them......but 12 spoons it was.

The kitchen piled up on steel tumblers, 'eversilver' ( stainless steel) dabras( katoris , cups) , then one day, if you were lucky, it would also change into some fine printed handkerchief...yes....that the poor hanky would finally shrink to the size of the nose, is a different matter...

There was this set of ladies who would make their visit to our house regularly...naturally..they wouldn't miss out on their best customer, would they? And then my mother in law, would complain about the previous rusting plate that they had offered and to exchange it...but " NO....the offer had changed :D !!!!

It was now one packet of sanitary napkins free with the other...gaaawwwd....I have seen the whole room reeling under the weight of those blue packets....what with 3 women...grrrr one years supply...baaah bwaaah

I was absolutely sure that we were the only family who did this...but to my horror, my mother told me, that her neighbour also did the same. But her reasoning was different..." poor girls, if they dont sell something, they won't get commission( that was how it worked...commission on n number of products sold) "
So then the house would be decorated with the encyclopedia, the cookery books....those that were sold on promotional tactics ..." we are giving a 70% off, ma'm" in their very accented perfect english. Now I wonder...why was it that the guy would always be accompanied by a smartly dressed girl, and the girl would do all the yacking while the poor guy stood quietly lookin hopefully to see that promising positive look in our eyes?!!! Of course I fell into that trap too....books being my weakness....and each time they targeted me in the office...so I now have a collection of 'fruits for all occassion', 'potatos and their magic'...'world books', 'Saarus', 'icecreams'...no...i'm stuck with them...

It also reminds me of the pastime we used to have as kids....no tv then...Bangalore had not yet got its tv...so it was us sitting playing traditional games, chaukabara, drawing, reading books, and of course listening and aping the "steel paaaaathre saaamaaanyo" ( steel utensilssss)...and then would get that glare from the big man...who would turn around his head with all the steel utensils carefully, skillfully, placed and also hanging out of the cane basket, like the BTS buses with commuters spilling all over the door. Today when I see all the neat old clothes, sarees, etc and trying to give them away or donate them...I think back to those scorched afternoons when that man would go about screeching in his nasal tones...while his lil boy would hold one piece of that steel carrier with the handle...wondering if in the next house, the lady would give away some saree with Zari..( it fetched a better price, you see!!) or some hapless suit..

Thankfully now we get all the freebies stuck into the glossy sheets of the ever popular magazines...Sunsilk shampoo sachets, meera shikakai, the get children yantras, and cds too...no more doorbells ringing...but no more "MeyDum"..... too :(

25 comments:

Gazal said...

heheh
i remember sticking my head out of the balcony and imitating the vendor...much to hs chargin...

loved the nostalgic post..

i am damn sure i posted a comment for the tag...can't find it anywhere....opps....am too tied up with textbooks and question papers at the moment...will take it up...PROMISE

Preethi said...

am having a nostalgic attack.. this is the third today.. all from the blogging world.. I think time and fodder for a post of my own :)

Rambler said...

you know fortunately I am saved when it comes to door to door sellers as its generally not me who answers the door

however regarding buzzing just when you dozed off on a weekend, you know people for country clubs think 2pm on a saturday is very auspicious when it comes to ask if I need a membership, and people from HDFC back from mumbai think sunday afternoons are the best time to provide me a personal loan...isn't that fun?

ceedy said...

hehe

meydum tumba channa post...

i remeber the poor eureka forbes guys....dressed in ties and white full sleeve shirts and walking in the heat...only to be shoeed away...

--xh-- said...

yeah, me too remember the door to door sales guys... now all teh freebies comes with magazines....

Sairekha said...

I love this post!! :) MeyDum!:)

aMus said...

thank you, meydum, for sending me on this nostalgic trip...kinda miss those days...

loved this, :D

Keshi said...

those were the days!

Keshi.

Tys on Ice said...

u know something ? in a maschocistic kind of way i miss those guys...when we were lil there was this guy who used to come to my grandma's place with sweets, snacks like mixtures etc...then there was the book and newspaper wala...steel wala, knife sharperner wala, aluminium hole sealer wala...

dont worry girl, i too am a soft target for the encyclodpedia chappies ( i shud be, cant even spell the word properly)

Sumana said...

I remember the summer holidays during school when I used to run open the door for anybody who rings the bell. Mom had to end up buying stuff.

Prats said...

@gazal..hey...chill...meditate...and do some for me too....I know your job can be taxing..and my hats off to you.

@preethi...heheh oh yes...when nothing else comes to mind..at least memories make you smile...just read your post too....nice one

Prats said...

@rambler....you are one lucky person :(.
And do you think they chose that time of the day, for any reason???
If you do , please let me know...i'll use that as a point when I fight my case for shooting them down

Prats said...

@ceedy...saaar thumbha thyanksu. (Sir, thank you much much )...oh yes, those crisp Eureka Forbes guys and their huge bags ...hehehe
Did u buy any?

Prats said...

@xh....but Still that was fun...no need to go out and whine about boredom....we had in house entertainment...with the wares of those salespeople

Prats said...

@ziah...thyanku MeyDum!! :P

@suma....cmoe back , come back from that trip...we want some posts on yours too....

Prats said...

@keshi..oh yes, and such carefree, and happy days...

Prats said...

@tys..I agree with you. I miss them at times too...and those chaklis and mixtures..those biscuits too....hundreds of them...they were kind of ncie too.
And maybe now is the time for you to get to learn the spellings...you were wondering how to while away your time, while wifey is out here ;)

Prats said...

@sumana..oh yes, kids are always the culprits...but they are innocent so all is i'm sure forgiven...except unless the objects of sale still exist at your parental home....

Fantasies of a Lifetime said...

Lovely post :D. . .And they always said, "You dont have to buy meydum u just have to see!"& once ur out ,its like ur out of the lakshman rekha and they end up making a inzy winzy hole in ur pocket (well most of the times :D)

WannabeWriter said...

I get sold for sob stories too...especially with books...can't resist a hardcover still. Recently one guy came to my office and sold me two paintings and purely by working on my sympathy...the next time he came I managed to stand my ground! :D Thanks for that trip down the memory lane...

Been around for some time...commenting for the first time :)

Unknown said...

very nice !!! i really like your writing. Keep writing more :)

Anonymous said...

i dnt know ..y! but we still have them coming a buzzing the sleepy birds in the afternoon :-/

mebbe..Blore has lost them...but Mysore refuses to grow up :-|

broca's area said...

haha..reminds me of my aunt...she buys everything she sets her eyes on....
handkerchief thing is really true..also our baniyan used to become thights withis days..lol

broca's area said...

haha..reminds me of my aunt...she buys everything she sets her eyes on....
handkerchief thing is really true..also our baniyan used to become thights withis days..lol

WhatsInAName said...

Olden golden days!
Why do we miss past so much?