Those Wonderful
Vending Machines
Vasant Hattangadi
Indupachi
was squatting amidst
suitcases crammed with all those alluring foreign goods that she had brought from her recent trip to U.S.
She was so excitedly narrating her experiences and she seemed particularly impressed by their huge departmental stores,
mega-shopping malls and automatic vending machines.
"Just drop a coin in the slot and out you get snacks, coke or even a
complete TV dinner! I wonder why don't they make such wonderful
machines, here." she mused.
Well, we too have had such vending machines
since ages. Even in my school days in Dharwar, I remember, there used to be at the railway station a tall, red
contraption to sell 'Platform' tickets. That it used to be 'out of
order' most of the time (probably from lack of use) is another matter! Later,
in Mumbai, I came upon a weighing machine with blinking colored lights that
would give you along with your exact weight
also a prediction of your future. I once had a try on one such machine during
my job hunting days, more to gauge my luck than to ascertain my weight. I dropped in a coin and out came a tiny card with my weight neatly printed
on it together with the prediction that I was soon to get a decent job! I then
put in another coin to find the card saying
this time, that the job would have something to do with the ocean!! Encouraged, I tried a third time with the hope of
finding some more details as to the nature of the job etc, only to
receive yet another vague prediction with an added, sound advice: "Time is
money, dear friend. Don't waste both!
Even in a remote place like
Bankikodla, in one of the wayside shops, I had once seen a unique, indigenous vending machine for selling Neera. Everyday,
on my return from my morning walk, I would stop at this shop to have a glass of Neera. On inserting a four-anna coin into the
machine, a small round, horizontal turntable on the front panel would rotate
through half a turn to bring forth a glass of fresh, sizzling Neera! One day, I put in my coin and
waited for some five minutes with no sign of a glass of my favorite beverage appearing. So, thinking that the
coin had got
stuck somewhere inside the machine, as it so often happens with these
coin-operated machines, I gave a rather smart bang on the side. A rather
shrill, if somewhat mechanical voice
emanated from the machine asking me to hold on for a while and excuse the "interruption",
with an apology that the inconvenience caused was regretted. After waiting for
few more minutes, I pounded once again on
the metal cabinet with the same result. When I banged rather impatiently
for the third time, however, a lanky, dark man emerged from behind the machine
yelling, " Arre, Bhaisaab! Have some
patience! I don't have empty glasses here, okay? Arre, Ganpu, get those damned glasses fast, will you? This old man's
dying for Neera!"
Some years back, a local
dairy in Santa Cruz had installed a milk vending machine at the suburban railway station, which
they had fondly named as "Doodh Ganga". All you had to do was to drop
two two-rupee coins in the slot and push a red button for the machine to
dispense with exactly one liter of fresh, whole milk through a tiny chrome-plated spout on
the front panel. For the first two days, the company did brisk business with
the sales going much beyond their normal expectations. The local populace had found the milk to be quite good, thick and
creamy and so they had even started patronizing the shop. On the third day,
however, when I went to buy my milk the machine had already sprung up an unusual technical problem! I dropped my coins
into the machine, held the bottle below the tap and found somewhat to my
discomfiture, that even after the bottle had been filled upto the brim, the
flow of milk didn't stop! It merrily kept on
filling the bottle and before I could say "Doodh", it was already overflowing. As I didn't have another empty bottle
with me, on the spur of the moment, I beckoned a poor, street urchin who
was standing nearby with his katori greedily watching the whole process.
But, as the poor fellow lunged forward to
help himself with some free milk, the next man in the queue gave me a dirty
look and shooed him away while pushing his own bottle below the tap which was
gushing out milk non-stop! The word soon
spread around like wild fire that the "Ganges of Milk" was in virtual
floods! Before long, people from the neighborhood were seen rushing
towards the railway station in large numbers with empty
utensils, glass bottles or whatever else they could lay their hands on, to get
their share of milk, gratis! It must be made clear that Lord Ganapati had
nothing whatsoever to do with this "miracle"; he developed a liking for milk much later.
Today, we have made
such technological advances with the modern, smart-cards etc, that the present-day machines almost match the humans
in their abilities and intelligence. The day may not be very far when, who knows, a future vending
machine may be just a robot with human-like attributes, that can give you a convincing sales talk besides
letting you even haggle over the price: "Two minutes,Bhaisaab! I
can show you some latest designs, which I'm sure you'll like. And just for you,
I'll make one last, very attractive offer -------------"
--------- x --------
( Published in Kanara Saraswat, January 2004 )
Those Wonderful
Vending Machines
Vending Machines
Vasant Hattangadi
Indupachi
was squatting amidst
suitcases crammed with all those alluring foreign goods that she had brought from her recent trip to U.S.
She was so excitedly narrating her experiences and she seemed particularly impressed by their huge departmental stores,
mega-shopping malls and automatic vending machines.
"Just drop a coin in the slot and out you get snacks, coke or even a
complete TV dinner! I wonder why don't they make such wonderful
machines, here." she mused.
Well, we too have had such vending machines
since ages. Even in my school days in Dharwar, I remember, there used to be at the railway station a tall, red
contraption to sell 'Platform' tickets. That it used to be 'out of
order' most of the time (probably from lack of use) is another matter! Later,
in Mumbai, I came upon a weighing machine with blinking colored lights that
would give you along with your exact weight
also a prediction of your future. I once had a try on one such machine during
my job hunting days, more to gauge my luck than to ascertain my weight. I dropped in a coin and out came a tiny card with my weight neatly printed
on it together with the prediction that I was soon to get a decent job! I then
put in another coin to find the card saying
this time, that the job would have something to do with the ocean!! Encouraged, I tried a third time with the hope of
finding some more details as to the nature of the job etc, only to
receive yet another vague prediction with an added, sound advice: "Time is
money, dear friend. Don't waste both!
Even in a remote place like
Bankikodla, in one of the wayside shops, I had once seen a unique, indigenous vending machine for selling Neera. Everyday,
on my return from my morning walk, I would stop at this shop to have a glass of Neera. On inserting a four-anna coin into the
machine, a small round, horizontal turntable on the front panel would rotate
through half a turn to bring forth a glass of fresh, sizzling Neera! One day, I put in my coin and
waited for some five minutes with no sign of a glass of my favorite beverage appearing. So, thinking that the
coin had got
stuck somewhere inside the machine, as it so often happens with these
coin-operated machines, I gave a rather smart bang on the side. A rather
shrill, if somewhat mechanical voice
emanated from the machine asking me to hold on for a while and excuse the "interruption",
with an apology that the inconvenience caused was regretted. After waiting for
few more minutes, I pounded once again on
the metal cabinet with the same result. When I banged rather impatiently
for the third time, however, a lanky, dark man emerged from behind the machine
yelling, " Arre, Bhaisaab! Have some
patience! I don't have empty glasses here, okay? Arre, Ganpu, get those damned glasses fast, will you? This old man's
dying for Neera!"
Some years back, a local
dairy in Santa Cruz had installed a milk vending machine at the suburban railway station, which
they had fondly named as "Doodh Ganga". All you had to do was to drop
two two-rupee coins in the slot and push a red button for the machine to
dispense with exactly one liter of fresh, whole milk through a tiny chrome-plated spout on
the front panel. For the first two days, the company did brisk business with
the sales going much beyond their normal expectations. The local populace had found the milk to be quite good, thick and
creamy and so they had even started patronizing the shop. On the third day,
however, when I went to buy my milk the machine had already sprung up an unusual technical problem! I dropped my coins
into the machine, held the bottle below the tap and found somewhat to my
discomfiture, that even after the bottle had been filled upto the brim, the
flow of milk didn't stop! It merrily kept on
filling the bottle and before I could say "Doodh", it was already overflowing. As I didn't have another empty bottle
with me, on the spur of the moment, I beckoned a poor, street urchin who
was standing nearby with his katori greedily watching the whole process.
But, as the poor fellow lunged forward to
help himself with some free milk, the next man in the queue gave me a dirty
look and shooed him away while pushing his own bottle below the tap which was
gushing out milk non-stop! The word soon
spread around like wild fire that the "Ganges of Milk" was in virtual
floods! Before long, people from the neighborhood were seen rushing
towards the railway station in large numbers with empty
utensils, glass bottles or whatever else they could lay their hands on, to get
their share of milk, gratis! It must be made clear that Lord Ganapati had
nothing whatsoever to do with this "miracle"; he developed a liking for milk much later.
Today, we have made
such technological advances with the modern, smart-cards etc, that the present-day machines almost match the humans
in their abilities and intelligence. The day may not be very far when, who knows, a future vending
machine may be just a robot with human-like attributes, that can give you a convincing sales talk besides
letting you even haggle over the price: "Two minutes,Bhaisaab! I
can show you some latest designs, which I'm sure you'll like. And just for you,
I'll make one last, very attractive offer -------------"
--------- x --------
( Published in Kanara Saraswat, January 2004 )
