The Big Brown Suitcase

Like most of the Bengali family heads, my father never had any sense of architecture. So when he built the house which we currently reside in, he took especial care to carve out storage spaces - access to which would be near impossible.

We moved into this house some 10 years back. Mom utilized all such storage spaces to tuck away the stuff that were deemed useless. Some of these spaces were located behind immovably huge beds (one that was gifted by my Grandpa during mom's wedding). Others were placed near to the ceiling, beyond human reach.

I visited my family last February. My mom, all of a sudden, happened to recall that a Brown Suitcase remained hidden in one of those dark inaccessible corners. So, she bestowed me with the responsibility of dragging the suitcase out of the mythical storage space.

After putting in some inhuman effort, I displaced the cot and pulled out the huge suitcase of my mother's interest. It was a VIP make suitcase, 48" in size, scarred with innumarable marks. This brown suitcase was used by family since 1987. It travelled across India from Ranchi to Nainaital to Bangalore, before finally retiring in suburbs of Calcutta. 10 years of prolonged neglect was evident from the repulsive amount of dust and cobwebs which covered it.

Mom spread an old newspaper over the bedsheet, on which I placed the suitcase. Both me and my mom were quite curious about the belongings this gigantic suitcase, that was packed, closed and shoved away a decade ago. My mom doesn't believe in building up suspense, so she opened up the case without much ado.

The suitcase was full of clothes. Sweaters. Shirts. Sarees. And ladies underwear. But you know what? None of these garments were mundane pieces of wearables. Each of these clothes were related to some member of our family in some special way.

First: There was this bundle of tiny sweaters. All of them were hand-woven. one had horizontal stripes of red and yellow wool. She told "This was yours." I was 5 years old( and 1/20th of my current volume) when I wore that sweater. I remembered it from a photo from my close friend Pupun's birthday party. Next to it was a similar sweater, which she recalled was woven for my elder brother. She picked it up, ran her hand through lovingly and placed it back in the suitcase, realizing that it would now fit her grandson (bro's son) who would never be allowed to wear an unbranded outfit.

Second: Beneath an old blanket, was found a white half-sleeved shirt with a pocket on the left side. The pocket was embroidered with a blue-colored emblem of a burning torch ('mashaal' in hindi). It was my school uniform. My most chreished attire, ever! Me - who is known to be a generally indifferent person among my friends - really felt a lump in my throat when I saw my old uniform. Sniff! Sniff!

Third and the most important: With great affection, mom picked out a red Saree. A Banarasi silk. This was the saree that marked the beginning of a 34 year relationship of a most-beautiful-girl-in-village with the most-uncool-man-ever-on-earth. Mom got married wearing this very Banarasi saree. Next she handpicked a white silk petticoat. She caressed it and utterred "This was the saya (Bengali for petticoat) which I wore during my marriage..". It was quite awkward to see my birthgiver get so nostalgic about the underwear she got married in. This was the first time, my mom discussed ladies' underwears with me. She commented on problems she had wearing the petticoat, compared to the underpants she wore during her childhood. The white silk blouse which she wore at her wedding also was resting here, a look at which made Mom confess "I can't believe how slim I used to be!". She meant size zero :).

Fourth: Just like my amazement with the saree mom got married wearing, Mom was all excited about another silk saree of purple hue. It was the one, wearing which her mom/my granny achieved marital bliss! And trust me, that Saree didn't lose much of it's shine even after 70 years of first being used! Wow!

Fifth: Mom discovered a sleeping bag of American make, gifted by her younger brother, who considered her to be his closest friend -before he got married. She sniffed that sleeping bag for a considerable time before putting it back in the suitcase.

After a nostalgic hour, mom realized that this suitcase doesn't carry any immediate value for the family. So, I was ordered to place it back where it was dragged out from. But, I sensed from the the very content smile on my mother's face, that this was indeed a planned move on her part. She wanted me to know of this storehouse of invaluable memories. She needed a guardian of the same for future. Good to know that I fit the bill.

Trring Trring to Beep Beep

Last night I was watching Monsoon Wedding. Every scene, I was being awed by Vijay Raaz's Dubey act. P.K.Dubey suddently uttered something which got me into flashback mode: "Maa, mobile mein baat karne ke liye ek minute mein 12 rupiya lagta hai" (Sorry, can't remember the exact dialogue).

The dialogue instantly reminded me of a 1999 afternoon when I was standing in Kalighat Metro station. The billboards were taken up by Command (later Hutch/Vodafone) - advertising it's low incoming call rates by comparing it with cost of streetfoods. Example: Bhelpuri Rs.3.00/-, Incoming Rs. 2.50/- or Lassi Rs. 5.00/-, Incoming Rs. 2.50/-. We've come a long way since that day. Rs. 12 per minute to make a call is plain unbelievable in current Indian Telecom market which is crowded by 10+ operators and jaw-droppingly low tariffs of 1 paise/second.Voice calls apart, it is not easy to single out any commodity or service that became cheaper in last 10-15 years.

In late 90s, my middle class parents percieved cellphones to be high-tech gadgets that were owned only by the super-rich. Which was kind of true in that era. The old Indian cellphone commercials clearly depicted Cellphones as toys of affluent folks. Older writers rued the fact how Bengali youth has changed ways to impress girls over the decades: In 70s, they wore Bell-bottoms, in 80s they rode motorbikes and in 90s, they are buying cellular phones.

The first cellphone that I ever touched and felt, was my elder cousin's bulky Nokia 5110, then considered to be a device of ultimate kewlness. Soon my elder brother bought one Motorola C-series phone. My father and bro went together to buy the phone, and came back in a Taxi, rather than public transport, to prevent the phone from being stolen! The excitement in the house was almost akin to buying the first car. His next phone was a Nokia 3310 - which was a bigger wonder for everyone - you know why? It was a phone without an external antenna! :P

Circa 2000, the rich-guy's-toy exclusivity of Cellphones waned off. Cellphones (popularly called 'cell' or 'mobile') became more and more abundant with cheaper models entering market. 2003 was marked by a phenomenal initiative launched by Reliance Infocomm - the Rs. 501 plan. Anybody paying just Rs. 501 could own a brand new cellphone along with CDMA connection. In addition, they could speak at a then-stunningly low rate of 40 paise/minute. People mobbed Reliance Infocomm showrooms, overlooking the 3-year contract and monthly installments. Biggest contribution of the 501 plan : it actually brought the cellphone to the mass. People whom we never thought would be part of cellphone user demographic - Shoeshiners, Autodrivers, Fruitvendors, Railway Hawkers - suddenly got access to the greatest technology of the decade. And our world changed forever.

Soon after, people got used to Cellphones. They became more of necessities, than novelties. Innovations continued: Phones with color screens, camera, music player, bluetooth, touchscreens, GPS, apps... phew! Once-amazing features like Music Composer, Polyphonic Ringtones, Snake 2, and in-built Flashlight fast faded into tech history. Cut-throat competition among operators generated hitherto unthought of Voice plans like Free Calls in same network, Lifetime connectivity, Hello tunes and Call rates as low as 29 paise/minute (P.K. Dubey would have talked to his Mom for longer time, had Monsoon Wedding been made today).

Talking. Did you happen to notice it's no more the same? How casual Phone Conversations have become? When you call someone, you can never expect his/her undivided attention to the conversation. The person on other side might be working on an Excel sheet/watching cricket score/cooking all the while talking to you. But on the other hand, if you miss someone, most certanly he/she will be one speed-dial away :)

Cellphones have totally transformed our ways of communication in last 10 years. It was my generation that witnessed the replacement of love-letters with text messages (SMS). Portability of cellphones ensure that lovebirds can talk absolutely anywhere - on the bus, in the bathroom, away from parents eyes. Same network/Late night Free Calls allow people to talk for any duration - 1 second to 1 night. However, at the same time, I feel that cellphones have devalued physical proximity. People are closer than before, but the longing for being together is not that strong anymore.

15 years back, calling my bro in Karnataka used to be weekly affair of huge importance. Not having long-distance calling facility in home, we went to a Phone booth at late night (to avail cheaper rates) and spoke to brother for 5-10 minutes. Those few minutes provided my parents with relief and happiness for next 7 days. Now, the current plans enable to me call my family and friends daily, spending more than 30 minutes in calls. I must admit that these conversations help a lot to bridge the 2500 km gap between me and my loved ones.

Footnote: For people wondering how pre-2000 cellphone scenario was or are nostalgic about the same, I highly recommend the movie '99'.