Routine life 80 years back and now

Routine life 80 years back and now

 

By

P.R.Ramachander

 

Then

I was born in a small agraharam in kerala about 80 years back. All the people were very particular about cleanliness and if they are not ill they used to take bath in the early morning . Then wearing the wet cloths they used to go to the temple , worship God and return home .Boys at very young age used to wear half pant and shirt when going out and graduated to wearing two yards Mundu (mostly mal or kora cloth) and shirt. They used to comb their hair and the only make up they used to wear was a dash of talcum powder. Girls used to wear gown initially , graduated to petticoat and blouse , Petticoat , half sari and blouse later.Still later they used to start wearing Sari ,They used talcum powder , Mehandhi on their palms and feet , kajal on the eyes and used to wear glass bangles and Bindi . even if they grow old. .They used maintain long hair which was neatly braided and maintained it nicely .Married ladies used to chew Thamboola some times and their lips and mouth was red because of that . There used to be no beauty parlours any whereand if a lady gets her hair cut people used to get shocked. All ladies used to apply turmeric on their face after bath and also Kumkum on their forehead.

 

Slightly big boys used to try smoking if they get in to bad company and they used to gamble by playing cards . Some of them used to stand in the gate of the temple and tease girls coming to the temple.Slightly older gents used to start chewing tobacco , start using snuff and in towns used to smoke. Their major entertainment was playing cards . An extremely small percentage of boys going to college used to drink and taste non vegetarian dishes also. Men were the masters of the homes . Wife beating was not very rare .

 

The life span of the people were very short then with most of them dying before they reached 60 and most of them used die before they reached eighty. IN my first 15 years of life I had seen only one person celebrating Sathabhishekam, Many ladies died during child birth and men used to marry immediately , Some of them were forced to marry several times.Most of the old people were hunched back , with a huge belly and used to walk with help of walking stick. Death was almost certain when with even ordinary diseases like Hernia, prostate , pneumonia , Typhoid , small pox etc.

 

Most of the old parents after retirement used to move to their villages. The children used to toil in far off places and send money to the expense of their parents. There were no old age homes anywhere.

 

Now

Half sari is not seen anywhere .Most of the girls go to Beauty parlours to get their hair cut and eye bow trimmed and many other techniques to enhance their beauty several times. Braiding hair has gone out of fashion for girls In Bangalore I have seen very many young girls smoking in the street .I understand that in Parties they also drink beer. They hire beauticians to tie Sari for the girls during marriage,

 

Mot of the boys smoke drink as well as gamble Chewing tobacco and snuff are the things of past.Most of them prefer to go to hotels that serve non vegetarian dishes.The preferred food is not food prepared at home but Italian, Chinese and Punjabi food .Several middle aged people have the habit of partying and drinking as well as dancing.Inter caste marriages are dime a dozen.

 

In the last ten years i have seen atleast 10-15 people celebrate their hundredth birthday. Almost every month there are several SAthabishekams .Without any doubt people live much longer . You do not find people wit walking stick or hunched back on the road.AS time progresses most of the diseases are getting cured,