Where have they gone?
1. Jod repair
2. Pazhaya Paperrrr
3. Eversilver patra saamaaaan
4. Arakeere molakeere (an uncle is said to have had a crush on her)
5. The harsh sound of the knife-sharpeners wheel
6. The snake charmer’s been
7. Gudugudupandi
8. Krishnaaayil
9. The man who climbed the coconut tree (girls were told not to look up when he was there)
10. The indigent Brahmin who recited vedas and shlokas at the door
11. Maa Paal! (the woman who delivered this became pregnant a year after her husband died. A neighbour’s son was the principal suspect. The abortion was funded for some reason by several women in the colony.)
12. Saar post
13. The woman who sold Sabena (a toilet cleaning powder)
14. The man from the Corporation who came to drop fish into the well
15. Uppundu (some such sound meant the chap who sold salt, garlic and tamarind)
16. Kodai repair
Nice post. I remember a few. Mokmaave! Eeyapatra samaan! Mualekeere,araikeere, sirukeere,avuttikeere…ay! Seepu kannadi kalar kungaaam!
Sorry, I overlooked the keerai call in your post.
ammaaa thaayeaa….raapichai vanthirukken
Gulfi vittuteengale.
Great post 🙂
I remember this one : Kola Maaavaaayeee with a distinct emphasis on ‘aye’..
Nice post
I still see or hear 2 & 4. I miss Bhoom Bhoom maadu and kathrikay, vendaykay,pavekay vengiyom.
Kolamaaaaaave Arapudiyaan 🙂
Wow! Nothing like a peddlar’s voice to bring back childhood memories. Thanks to you and others who added more. Brings back images of the peddlars themselves, and the mysterious nocturnal creatures like the kulfi man who in the dim street light materialized with his cart and made you wait with a dramatic act of shaking the tin mold vigorously to dislodge the goody from it!
The ever silver pAtrE sAmAn in our childhood cried: pitlE pAtrE sAmAn–a meaningul pause, and then, evEr silver pAtrE sAmAn!
The exclusive ever silver sale came with changing times.
One character, in the early hours of the morning, wearing a hood of kambLi (woolen shawl) and running, voiced something like “Ooooooo!” and scared a six year old (on my first trip to Chennai). It was finally figured out that he was selling “perugu” (curds)!
I don’t know the Chennai scene now, but in Bengaluru, a Tamizh nADu woman who sells many vegetables from a cart only names one: soppu! she sings out emphatically, as if she’s an exclusive seller of greens!
Ah ! That takes me down Rue Nostalgia ! Not to forget the lovely chimes of the son papdi wala , and the value-for-money “paal ice ” a kuchi ice all for just 10 paise ! Our keerai kaari had a good sense of humour ( like many people those days 😛 ) and used to cry out aria -kire , siri-kire , and morai-kire .! Grind , laugh and stare all you want ! miss the ‘and the ball goes over the rope” radio commentary and PBS early morning choir ‘pada saalai poga vendum papa ezhundiru !”
Son paapadiiii