PLASTIC SURGE !

The late seventies brought all kind of household goods in plastic Now we can't live without it.Early morning brush to the mosquito repellant container ,it is there.It made our life easier.But when we were kids we never seen anything plastic.The pens ,spectacle frame,LP records were made of a different material called the shellac.We use to fish with the nylon lines.Everything was packed in containers of Tin or wood .Shirt buttons first appeared as plastic,then came the ballpoint pen.The containers we use to store were Horlicks bottles with tin lids,Brookbond Green Label coffee tins.

.We suffered a lot due to the saline humidity,everything made of tin and iron rusts fast near the sea,as we lived close to the sea.Painting the tin containers,the cycle ,the hinges etc.,was the only cure for rust,now you know the secret of my inclination towards colour.

Once in a year we use to paint the Trunk boxes and smoke design it .As plastic revolution took off,we saw a lot of plastic waste washed away by the sea on its shore..then came the recycling business,shore combers started scavenging for plastic waste which were sold for Rs.4 per Kilo.I even stumbled upon plastic bullets containing ammunition inside it with aluminium capsules,US army emergency food packets consisting peas,butter,paper matches,cigarette making stuff,coffee powder,sugar etc on a water proof black packet.The cold war was at its peak.Fifty cans of Foster beer ,we drank to the hilt..in those days, we can't think about it in India.

I used Reynold pens,gas lighters which reached us through the sea before we liberalised our economy.Coils of nylon ropes from the sea used to tie the cattles.The sea when roars during the monsoon brought toys for us "made in Hongkong" the militery fighters holding guns ,crawling with guns,monsters etc.We children started searching for toys on the shores.The sea brought surprises for us,sometimes a big dead sperm whale,small star fish or an abandoned Burmese Trawler,Buddha statue floating on a bamboo pantoon with lots of soiled Burma rice packets with Buddhist scriptures.

This friendly sea broke all its limits and my faith one day.....you know when it happened..the whole world knows it!!! THE TSUNAMI.

I survived it to tell this story about plastics !!!