Glimpses from the past of home “services” and recycling

Glimpses from the past of home “services” and recycling

by Mahendra “Speedy” Gonsalkorale

I hope to stimulate my colleagues to come up with their own recollections of such services.

Recycling is very much in the news now but in my childhood days, many types of recycling were carried out. For example, we had milk bottles delivered to our house, and the empty bottles from the previous delivery collected at the same time. We also had local dairymen coming on bicycles with a large aluminium canister of milk at the back from which he filled the empty bottles we gave him.  

The need to go out and shop for many home requirements was less because of the various vendors who visited homes. One notable person I have a clear recollection was a Chinese man wearing Khaki shorts, long stocking ending just below the knee and a khaki safari hat (Cheena redi velenda). He came on a cycle with a big bundle of textiles perched on a rack attached above the rear wheel mudguard. He used to unload his “Pottaniya” and display all his textiles and was not at all upset if my mother did not purchase any.  The wily man knew there would be another occasion.

Another was a fish seller, the Maalu velenda, shouting “malu,malu!”, with two sizeable shallow wicker baskets, each hanging on three strings from the ends of a crossbar which he balanced on his shoulder. His equivalent on vegetables, the elavalu welenda,  used similar accessories.

I remember the paan and bunnis man bringing fresh bread loaves and buns.  They were all amiable and pleasant people. And of course the ice cream and lollipop man!

We had men who collected empty bottles and old newspapers (bothal karaya). These men skilfully balanced quite a large container to collect the bottles, on their heads as they walked from house to house shouting what sounded like “peeyap, botheley”. Who says that recycling is a modern phenomenon! Another I recall is the knife sharpener who had his contraption for executing his work slung on his back. It was stood on the ground and had a pedal and belt-driven grinding wheel on which knives were sharpened. He was the “kathuru muwath – pihiya muwath” man.

Another home service was the horoscope man, the “sasthara karaya”. It was mandatory to consult the stars for anything of importance. Each of us had a book with a horoscope chart based on the positions of the planets at the time of birth written on it. Our expert called on us from time to time and exercise books which were used usually for school work were produced on which he with great diligence and an air of gravitas, jotted down various calculations and predictions based on an almanac which he consulted. He was highly respected and savoured the tea and biscuits offered to him. He was also a good source of gossip! The favoured expert changed according to the latest correct or incorrect predictions recently made by them. Word spread quickly!.

Then there was the Dhobi who did our laundry. He came home, and my mother had a notebook in which she recorded every item of linen and clothing the Dhobi took with him for washing. All the pieces were placed in neat piles on the floor on the day the Dhobi was expected. He would go through the categories and shout out the item name and number, and my mother would note it down. For example, “Mesa redi (table cloth) pahai (5)”, “Kota kalisang (shorts) atai (8)” and so on, He would bundle them all in a large white sheet and take it away on his bicycle. He would come back in possibly two to three weeks, and the process is reversed as my mother checks whether everything has been delivered washed and clean. After checking the clean ones, he would pick up the items to be washed as described

.

Another person to call was the man who delivers lunch to school. He picked up the plate of prepared food covered with another plate and wrapped with a cloth with the four edges tied into a central knot. He took it away on his bicycle to a Central distribution point where many like him brought food parcels and through an ingenious system of geographical redistribution, these men would each pick up all the packed lunches to be taken to the designated area which he covers. Thus, the person who picks up the lunch and the person who delivers are not the same.

Before flushing toilets arrived, we had bucket latrines. The excreta was emptied into a bucket and covered with sawdust or rice husk dust to minimise odour. The buckets were collected house to house and taken away for disposal by a “coolie” who was always clad in a khaki top and shorts, in a pushcart which usually had eight compartments for placing eight buckets. Sadly, the job was delegated to low-caste men.

I just wonder how many of these services still persist in modern Sri Lanka.