Mundane Musings

People who sell wares on the roads, especially in non-commercial localities, have a distinct style to calling out their wares. Almost all are very catchy and sometimes difficult to figure out unless of course you come out of your home and check out the wares they sell…that being their objective I think. A few sounds which have intrigued me for years…yep I ain’t kidding, I’ve listed below. I have figured every one of them…but would you have, if you had heard it for the first time? Koaaaaaaah….Koaaaaah – Well, wish I could upload a recording of this man’s cry early in the morning. That should be a clue for people living in tradition soaked Madras. He cycles along slowly with a white sack at the back and makes this sound. The sound itself doesn’t rise in the same level instead there is a slight dip immediately after ‘o’ and the first ‘ah’ of the many ‘ah’ sounds. And what was it? It was, I kid you not, Kolamaaave (rangoli powder)! I guess years of selling the stuff made him come out ...

I have been reading ‘Committed – a love story’ by Elizabeth Gilbert, of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ fame. I love that lady’s books. She has a way of writing stories which I have always been meaning to write. She beat me to it…that woman! Ok just kidding. Aside from the small fact that if I wrote a book the only number of copies it would sell would probably be a grand number of probably 5; I don’t think I have the energy to plough through so many thoughts and insecurities of mine in order to come up with a logical story like what she has written. Still, it is a subject of marriage. And anyone tracking the lives of married people will note the number of contradictions that exist in this complex, living, thriving relationship. Which is what seems to be evident in her book too and it was with a bit of disappointment that I read the end of the book. It was hardly an ending, more a confused summing up of facts. But then I realized one could never come to a logical conclusion about this institution ca...