Some old habits.

NOSTALGIA - J.K. SIVAN

Some old habits.

Seventy years ago the habits were different for us. In the early morning hours, there were people on the banks of rivers, near big common wells, in the huge agricultural fields and vegetable gardens, and backyards of many houses with small tender neem twigs frayed and bitten at one end, to be used as a brush for cleaning the teeth. It was bitter in taste and yet it protected the gums and teeth, and sometimes tender banyan tree branch twigs were its alternative.

Many used to powder red bricks on the granite steps of village tanks, rivers and common wels, for making instantaneous tooth power. Vibudhi, the holy ash smeared on the forehead and upper part of the body, was used as the tooth powder. It was packed in small packets for use during our travel. Some used the black charcoal powder as tooth powder, . Villagers also preferred the kitchen burnt ash powder for cleaning the teeth.

In the towns and villages Pyorrhea tooth powder in paper packets was commonly used. White in colour, it was strong smelling and irritated the mouth. The number 1431 on the envelope and on small tins was quite popular. It reminded me of the taste of white, big, and round peppermints known as ''strong'peppermints'' sold in the shops those days for just 3 paise ech. It was quite big and mouthfull. Carbolic acid was probably its content.

There were also brown envelopes thick with reddish tooth powder named Nanjangud tooth powder which many houses used. Gopal tooth powder was widely announced in radios then in Radio Ceylon commercial broadcast programs in between Tamil film songs of listeners' choice. I have not used it till this morning though its name was quite popular.

Tooth paste invaded and removed almost all these in course of time and we have numerous brands of tooth pastes now each of them claiming to be the best for teeth protection with a doctor's picture on the packet or so. The tooth brushes of different makes and shapes, made for adults and children, as soft, medium and hard brushes have also become now a part of the household essential items.

Snake charmers and cheap tricksters and magicians on the road side gathered a crowd around them and made a boy clean his teeth with tooth powder and sold them to the onlooking public. Such was also a mode of marketing the product in those days.

The red Lifebuoy soap is unforgettable. It was big and in our house my mother used to cut them into halves for use one after the other. It was found in almost all the houses during my boyhood days. Sunlight/ 501 bar soaps were long and cut into many parts for washing the clothes on the river and temple tank steps in those days besides the huge common wells found in the vegetable gardens.