All India Industrial Exhibition is held anually from January till February in Hyderabad.Traders from all over India put up their stalls and it is customary for every Hyderabadi to make a visit to the exhibition with their family and friends.
Visiting the Exhibition(Numaish) has been a norm ever since I was a child.
Like any other man,my dad is a big fan of electronics. My memories revolve around us visiting those stalls,my dad seeing the demos of washing machines,televisions etc..In the first few years of such visits, I watched all demos with my dad though I was hardly interested in any vaccum cleaner.My only excitement was that that a brand-new glittering thing would be home along with us.
Only after experience(s) did I realize that my dad had absolutely no intention of buying any of those things .
My disappointment eventually turned into irritation .So, we made a deal, according to which, my mom and I would take a look at other interesting things and meet at a particular place at agreed time. I am talking about those days when people did not have cell phones as reminders.So there was no scope of requesting change-of-time.
Every year I visited the Exhibition, I reminded myself of the previous year and how I missed seeing those beautiful chappals(sandals) or dresses that my friends bought..But somehow,I never found anything that I could not get outside the Exhibition.
There is one thing about the shop-wallas.They put your judgemental-skills to test.Listening to the price of the item with noise -pollution all around you is one challenge. On top of it,one has to decide whether the product is really worth it in a matter of seconds.
There is one catch here. Sometimes,you do not get to touch the item.So ears do the listening part.Eyes do the judging part.Voice does the negotiating part- And all in the matter of minutes.Most of the times,the shop-wallah already puts the product in a cover after telling his price and passes on the cover in one hand,spreading the other hand at the same time for money.
Well,except for my ears,neither my eyes nor my voice can act fast.Hence I gave up my attempts to buy anything at the exhibition.
Interesting thing is that,till date no item bought here has lasted or was used more than a month . The easy peeler for vegetables would break after the third use ,my mom would throw away the onion-cutter to avoid the overhead of setting it up or cleaning it later,the quick-orange-juicer would sit idle as it is easier to eat oranges, the magic eraser loses its magic and the list goes on..
But still....
We never stopped visiting the Exhibition and we never stopped visiting the stalls.We went there every year though there is no place to sit and the quality of kulfi dropped .
Time flew and I got married to a guy living in Seattle. So I bid Good bye to my city with a heavy heart.
After six years, here I am ,now with my 3 year old, at the same place. As I stood there, I felt a sense of confusion."Everything changed so drastically" I thought, but only for a split second. An affectionate smile lighted my face when I saw my dad standing infront of a stall and reading a brochure with utmost attention. Nothing has changed, after all !
Do I have to tell what stall could that be?
But then, I did not know what is in store for me that evening.
Stay tuned to read the continuation soon and be part of the suspense!
Visiting the Exhibition(Numaish) has been a norm ever since I was a child.
Like any other man,my dad is a big fan of electronics. My memories revolve around us visiting those stalls,my dad seeing the demos of washing machines,televisions etc..In the first few years of such visits, I watched all demos with my dad though I was hardly interested in any vaccum cleaner.My only excitement was that that a brand-new glittering thing would be home along with us.
Only after experience(s) did I realize that my dad had absolutely no intention of buying any of those things .
My disappointment eventually turned into irritation .So, we made a deal, according to which, my mom and I would take a look at other interesting things and meet at a particular place at agreed time. I am talking about those days when people did not have cell phones as reminders.So there was no scope of requesting change-of-time.
Every year I visited the Exhibition, I reminded myself of the previous year and how I missed seeing those beautiful chappals(sandals) or dresses that my friends bought..But somehow,I never found anything that I could not get outside the Exhibition.
There is one thing about the shop-wallas.They put your judgemental-skills to test.Listening to the price of the item with noise -pollution all around you is one challenge. On top of it,one has to decide whether the product is really worth it in a matter of seconds.
There is one catch here. Sometimes,you do not get to touch the item.So ears do the listening part.Eyes do the judging part.Voice does the negotiating part- And all in the matter of minutes.Most of the times,the shop-wallah already puts the product in a cover after telling his price and passes on the cover in one hand,spreading the other hand at the same time for money.
Well,except for my ears,neither my eyes nor my voice can act fast.Hence I gave up my attempts to buy anything at the exhibition.
Interesting thing is that,till date no item bought here has lasted or was used more than a month . The easy peeler for vegetables would break after the third use ,my mom would throw away the onion-cutter to avoid the overhead of setting it up or cleaning it later,the quick-orange-juicer would sit idle as it is easier to eat oranges, the magic eraser loses its magic and the list goes on..
But still....
We never stopped visiting the Exhibition and we never stopped visiting the stalls.We went there every year though there is no place to sit and the quality of kulfi dropped .
Time flew and I got married to a guy living in Seattle. So I bid Good bye to my city with a heavy heart.
After six years, here I am ,now with my 3 year old, at the same place. As I stood there, I felt a sense of confusion."Everything changed so drastically" I thought, but only for a split second. An affectionate smile lighted my face when I saw my dad standing infront of a stall and reading a brochure with utmost attention. Nothing has changed, after all !
Do I have to tell what stall could that be?
But then, I did not know what is in store for me that evening.
Stay tuned to read the continuation soon and be part of the suspense!
enjoyed reading your first blog :)
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