They say: “Cleanliness is next to godliness” and man has always followed this rule right from the early days. He always looked after his body and kept himself hygienically clean by bathing in natural water be it from a well, lake or a spring. He did not own cupboards filled with clothes but had just enough to clad himself. He washed his few clothes regularly. However, detergents were not as abundantly available then as they are today. So, with what did he wash his clothes? He made use of natural detergent “RINGE” (small, round, inedible soap producing berries.) Every ward then had a few “Ringeachim zaddam” (inedible berry trees.) Once “ringe” were ripe, they would fall to the ground just like “boram” (sweet-sour local berries.) Every morning, people would gather under the trees and collect as many “ringe” as they needed for the day. They would sometimes gather extra “ringe” and dry and store them in a “panttulo” (basket made of bamboo) as a contingency stock.
Here is how “ringe” were used. Housewives would fill a bucket with water, place two handfuls of “ringe” in it and leave them to soak overnight for maximum extraction. In the olden days, washing of clothes was one of the early morning chores so that they could put clothes out to dry as soon as the sun rose. As soon as women woke up in the morning, they would stir the water in the bucket with their hands in order to check lather formation which was as good as any detergent today. They would then place dirty clothes in the bucket and leave them to soak until they finished preparing breakfast for the family. By that time, clothes would get well-soaked, thus making their washing job much easier for them. Clothes were washed mostly on a large “rop duvpachi fatorn” (clothes washing stone) which was placed on a pedestal of stones. Normal washing was done by pressing and rubbing clothes on a washing stone, but thick and heavily soiled clothes were either beaten with a solid, round “tonnko” (piece of wood) preferably of bamboo, or they would just swirl clothes on washing stone – every swirl was accompanied by a sound: “Shh…Shhhh! Shh…Shhhh! Shh…Shhhh!” In the case of dirty stains, they would pick some “ringe” from the bucket and rub them into the spots, and the stains would completely disappear. We never used “ringe” at home to wash our clothes but I collected and passed them on to my friends who could not afford to buy washing soap.
Besides using “ringe” for washing clothes they were also used for catching fish in the summer, especially “thigur” (walking catfish) from shallow ponds. Here again, the process was quite simple. They collected “panttlo bhor” (a basketful) “ringe” and threw the whole lot in a pond of knee-deep water. Usually, it is not very easy to catch “thigur” because they live in “chikol” (silt.) As soon as the “ringe” gets soaked, the chemical in them is released in the water thus affecting the fish, especially their eyes. It takes more than an hour for the effect to penetrate through the silt, and when it does, “thigur” come out of the silt and move about restlessly in the water. This is when the catchers cast their “koblem” (a round bamboo ring fixed with net) and make their day with a sizeable catch. I don’t think anyone today catches “thigur” this way. Even if we wished, there are no more “ringeachim zaddam,” at least I don’t see any left in my ward. I did join Gaumvaddy boys a few times in the late 1950’s in “thigur” catching adventures. There is quite a big shallow pond in the late Dr. Floriano D’Souza’s plot just behind the present day ‘Go Carting Track,’ known as “Babuchem voll” (thick jungle strip belonging to Babu - a nickname then given to Dr. Floriano, the dentist.) We discovered the pond through one of the boys from Dr. Floriano’s ward, “ximer” (Arpora border,) and we carried out our fishing raids in the pond with that boy’s assistance. So, you see, “ghorcho bedi, bhailo chor mhunntat tem sarkem” (the saying “theft with the help of an insider” is true!) Friends always offered me my share of “thigur” and other fishes like “khorvo,” “konkari, “denkle,” etc., but I gave it back to them because they needed it more than me - most of them could not afford to buy fish. However, I was always there to help them in their struggle – be it in fishing or anything else. I tasted “thigur” only once in my lifetime.
CLOTHES IRONING: Unlike today, there was no electricity available during our childhood so that we could plug in an iron box and iron our clothes. Ironing clothes was quite a difficult task; we had to use “kott’tteanchem ferr” (coconut shell-based iron box.) One of the day’s tasks at that time was to iron clothes. As soon as the clothes dried (if possible, we would collect clothes while they were a little damp so as to make ironing easy,) we would gather “kott’tteo” (coconut shells) and set fire to them – we would sometimes place “kott’tteo” directly in the iron box.) Once the coconut shells burned and turned into coal, we would collect them with a “chimtto” (pincher) and place them in the iron box. We would check if the iron box was hot by licking the middle finger and applying it to the base. If the saliva sizzled, the iron box was hot and ready for use. The coal in the box would go cold after some time. We would then open the lid of the box and fan the coal with a notebook, paper board, or an “ainno” (fan) and re-heat it. I learned to iron clothes as a child by watching someone do it once and have since mastered the technique of ironing various types of clothes including a suit!
That’s all for now from Dom’s antique shelf!
Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA
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