Visiting the Mall Museums : Story Behind the Deserted Shopping Malls

Malcom MacGonal, a history professor at  Stonewell University was his usual pepped-up self, as he got ready for the day ahead, though today the reason behind his upbeat mood was different. It was his son Calvin's 10th birthday. Exactly 10 years ago, on the 14th of September, 2020, God had blessed him with this beautiful gift and with each passing day, he and his wife had cherished this gift more than ever. Today being Calvin's birthday, he had taken a day off from work and had plans to spend the entire day with his son, while Calvin's mother stayed at home, decking up the house for a surprise kiddies party planned for the evening . Day's itinerary included a leisurely tour around Funland Children's Park and then the kiddies' party in the evening with all of Calvin's friends in attendance. 

Just as he stepped out of the house, with Calvin holding his hand, his phone beeped. 'Oh no, hope it's not someone from the University looking for me,' he uttered, mentally scanning the faces of all the curious students of his modern history class. Owing to his interactive teaching sessions, he was one of the professors who was always being sought by students passionate about all things historical. He checked the phone and was visibly relieved to see that message was not from a student but from Clarks & Sponsors, his favourite departmental store. The message read: Dear Mr.MacGonal, you shopped for undergarments from us on this date, a year back. You must be in need of replacements now. Here's your personalized catalogue to help you with the choices. Have a good day.

Oh yes, indeed. He needed replacements. As he sat in the bus headed towards the children's park, he typed in the requisite details and ordered for new stock of undergarments. It was as simple as that. Fill in your order form, key in the payment and bang, whatever you wanted would be delivered at your doorstep in no time. He knew that by the time he got home, his order would have been delivered.

Mobile-Commerce : Shopping on the go!

Shopping was all about a smartphone and a good internet connection now. And of course money too. But from paper money to plastic money, it was now all about mobile money - for all the monetary transactions now happened on the smartphone!

How different this was from the days of yore, he tried to recall. How the concept of shopping has changed over the decades. Take the fridge for example! Now one does not have to go the grocery store to trudge home carton full of stuff. As the stock goes down, the in-built memory chip updates the registered grocer's data and lo and behold, fresh supplies arrive. Milk, eggs, veggies...everything is on weight mode and the moment the quantity goes below what's required, the stock is replenished from the grocer's.

Down & out, well almost

In business again!

Of course technological innovation and cut throat competition in the e-commerce domain has worked out best for us shoppers, he thought.  'I am hundred percent sure of the things I buy online, so much so that I can even have a feel of the things I shop for, all thanks to the 3D imaging of the products, my needs and probable shopping list is personalized and above everything I have the liberty to walk around virtual stores without the palpable embarrassment of walking out without making a purchase.' he smiled inwardly at his own musings.

Of course he was right, the meteoric advancement in the field of e-commerce had made shopping such a comfortable and convenient experience. For all his needs, he had his favourite websites bookmarked on his smartphone, and that gave him the power to shop from anywhere at anytime. A single click of his phone and there was a personalized virtual store right in front of his, a virtual store that did not close in on him and that catered to his demands and accorded personal assistance 24/7.

Personalized catalogue

Not just a personal assistant, the high flying customer savvy e-stores also see to it that they keep registered customers up to date about the things they might be interested in. If you browsed through one SLR camera section, within minutes you will have a neat collection of cameras matching the specifications you are looking for. Likewise for a million other things. 

And to top it all, a single point payment partner across websites too took care of the woes online shoppers had decades ago. Just one payment partner now ensures that a buyer does have to share his bank or credit details with every Tom, Dick and Harry on the internet. Plus, this single point collector also guarantees your purchase, in case of any disputes that a buyer may later have regarding the transaction or the quality of the product.

One payment partner across websites

These technological advancement in online shopping again got Malcolm recalling his shopping plights in the past. Ah, those were the days, when shoppers would crowd the shopping centres and the many malls to buy big and small things. What a pointless waste of time it was - trudging from shop to shop, trying to find that perfect fit, that perfect colour, scanning the numerous shelves in the endless stores! And then came mobile commerce and changed everything! Mobile commerce that made museums of the the shopping malls!

Suddenly an idea crossed his mind. Why not take Calvin to a tour of the deserted malls instead! The malls that were once thriving and crowded with shoppers, but were now deserted, some converted into museums, standing as a relic to the era gone by, while some standing as anonymous markers of the past.

A deserted mall 

Another casualty of M-Commerce - empty stores

And Calvin, being his father's son, agreed! So off to the museum he went, hand in hand with his father, curious and contemplating what a shopping mall was.

This futuristic post has been written for eBay's Future of Shopping drive in association with IndiBlogger. To make your online shopping experience more satisfying and secure, you can install the official eBay India Google Chrome extension, called eBay Check. This extension helps you keep updated about the best prices on eBay.in for any products that you may be looking up.

A Sniff Down Memory Lane

My father was born and brought up in a small nondescript village in Punjab. I say nondescript because compared to the fancy houses and Scorpio/Bolero/Tata Safari flaunting villages of today, Punjabi villages around 60 years back (I have been told) were more about seemingly endless expanse of farmlands with clusters of houses doting them. Most of the houses had cattle-sheds for the cows and buffaloes they reared and all sorts of smells wafted from those kucha-pucca houses - smoke bellowing from the open chulhaas, smell of tandoori rotis, corn being roasted somewhere, all these mixed with the pungent smell of cowdung and drying cowdung cakes.

Father spent first sixteen years of his life in one such village, before moving out to the city to pursue higher studies. Today, after all these years of living in small, big and metropolitan cities, every time he smells a tandoor being set up, or smells the powdery smell of freshly ground atta (wheat flour) or the smell from a cow-shed, he says that it reminds him of his home, his village. I cannot agree more. Research says smells have an almost mystical ability to bring back memories even with their slightest whiff. Nothing elicits memories with the same emotional punch as odor, opine experts.

Villages have their own smell

Now as I sit and reminiscence about all the smells that instantly take me home, so many smells are suddenly wafting all around me...creating a haze of smells, if something like that is possible. I can smell Rasna's orange flavour, take in the sweet aroma of Roofafza, the heavy smell of ripe guavas....the halwa poori on Durga Ashtami...the smell of kerosene oil...Ah! Like father has the smells of village to transport him back to his childhood, I have all these smells to take me back to the times when I was growing up. And now the big and small whiffs of these smells are taking me along them..to a ride down memory lane, each smell bringing back fond recollections of the time went by.

Rasna, Roof Afza and Spiderman

Every time I see a kid sipping on Rasna, specially the orange flavour Rasna, it's tangy smell takes me back to my school days and the strictly regimented routine at home. School or no school, vacation or no vacation, summer months schedule strictly included an afternoon siesta. No protest or excuse could have let me and my brother escape the punishment/compulsion that this siesta was. Sleeping in the afternoon, something that I am sure can rightly be called a luxury in today's hectic schedule was nothing less than a pointless waste of time for us. Why waste time sleeping, when you can go out and catch dragonflies,  climb up the guava tree, chase crows and other birds off the branches, call on the neighbour's door and plan revenge against that neighbourhood bully...but no, all these adventures were sacrificed at the alter of afternoon siesta.  And the sacrifices were later rewarded with glasses of Rasna in the evening! More often than not, it was the orange flavor, for mother believed that orange flavoured one had all the vitamins necessary for growing school kids. 

Occasionally, the Rasna was replaced by the more mature but interesting looking Roof Afza! The dark pink liquid in big transparent glasses! It looked so grown up! And this was enjoyed with the recorded adventures of either Tom & Jerry or Spiderman playing on the VCR! What bliss it was , to relish cool and colourful drinks while watching your favourite superhero thrash the villians! May be it's the hangover of the days of yore, but even today every time I drink Roof Afza, it's exotic taste and the sophisticated dark pink colour brings alive the memories from childhood summers.

Maggie Noodles and Baloo, the Papa Bear

Maggie noodles with Disney cartoons

I believe every one of us (well almost) has a Maggie story to share. This 2-minute noodle has been such a big part of our growing up years. Smell of maggie brings back memories of Sundays at home! For Sunday breakfast for us kids was special, a Sunday treat - maggie topped with loads of peas, onion and tomatoes. The slurrp sound it made as we tried sucking the noodle in through the fork never failed to thrill me and my brother. 

And this memory also brings Baloo 'the Papa Bear' along. Glued to the TV sets we would eat bowl full of maggie as the bush pilot Baloo, also referred to as Papa Bear, from the Disney series Talespin, would go about his adventures!

New Books and freshly sharpened pencils

Experts so rightly say that smell can call up memories. Every time I smell a new book, it takes me back to the start of new sessions at school, when everything would be new - new books, new notebooks, new bag, new tiffin box, covering sheets, name tags..and this in turn brings in more smells and memories - chart papers, smell of freshly sharpened pencils, ink-pots, perfumed erasers! 

Smell of new books & new pencils!

Another smell that reminds me of home and childhood is the smell of kersene oil and the soot that blackens the lanterns! Electricity would be a whimsical thing in those days, and as the sun went down, lanterns would be handy in every room - one constantly lit on our study table as we went about playing pranks under its flickering flame. And more often than not, the pranks centred around ghosts and spirits!

Smell of kerosene oil too brings back happy memories!

Oh, what an incredible sniff down memory lane this has turned into! Our noses really have a way at sniffing out nostalgia. And this beautiful ride has now sparked a flurry of emotional memories! So more on smells later!

Salaam Sahib...Said the Doorman

Update: This post was selected as a WOW post by Blogadda.com.

This post is in response to BlogAdda's WOW writing prompt : Write a post including the two words Salaam and Namaste.

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'Salaam sahib,' the doorman hastily moved forward to open the glass door as Sandeep strode inside the lobby of his new office.

He was an Assistant Manager at a logistics firm and had been transferred to the firm's Nagpur office to take charge as the new Branch Manager. The branch had been running a loss since almost a year now and he being a bright and enterprising professional, had been sent to breathe life back into the account books that were almost on the verge of absolute collapse. 

Ever since the news of his promotion and transfer was conveyed to him, he had been looking forward to the challenge, charting out big and small plans to get the Nagpur office back on track and ace the onerous task handed out to him by the big bosses.

And today morning, as he walked into his office, his mind was choc-a-bloc with things to do and plans to execute. There was so much to take care of, things to turn around... he was immersed in his plans as he neared the entrance of the lobby, and it was the doorman's languid 'Salaam sahib' that snapped him out of his thought flow. For a second he did not know what to say or how to acknowledge that slow salaam from the doorman who looked almost his father's age - gray haired but with a sharp presence. Coming from him, the salaam somehow sounded a bit strange. It sounded imperialistic - like the days of yore, when India was under the British rule and Indians would go about clicking their heels wishing salaam to every white man that mattered. This is how they show it on the TV, isn't it?

Salaam sahib...how he detested the words. Even in the malls and restaurants, he would cringe every time a doorman uttered the words salaam sahib. Ah, was there no alternative to these bureaucratic sounding salutations, he often wondered. But right now there was no time for such musings. He acknowledged the salaam with a small smile and moved on. Once inside his cabin, the first hour of his first day at work was taken up in getting introduced to the staff from the different departments. Because of the gradual slowdown in the branch's work, there were just a few people in the office now and his personal assistant had arranged for everyone to be formally introduced to  him. It was only when he was done with the formalities and doling out the first set of instructions for his assistant that his mind went back to the enervated 'Salaam sahib'. 

He buzzed for the doorman, as much for a little introduction as for the salaam sahib that he had a feeling would become a daily ritual if he did not nip it in the bud. Within the seconds the doorman appeared, expressions of shock, surprise and anxiety all visibly apparent on his face.

'Ji Sahib, aapne bulaya?'

'Ji. Kya naam hai aapka?' Sandeep's voice had a warm engaging tilt to it.

'Ji Bhairon. Bhairon Singh', the doorman sounded perplexed. 

'Kitne time se hain is office mein Bhairon ji?' 

'Ji sahib paanch baras ho gye. Kuch galti ho gyi kya sahib?' 

'Nahi, nahi, sab se mil rha tha to socha aap se bhi mil loon. Aap bhi to office ka hissa hain na. Chaliye, phir milte hain.'

Bhairon Singh heaved a visible sigh of relief. In all his 5 years at this office, no manager had ever as much as acknowledged him, let aside calling him inside the cabin to ask about his well being. And here was this new manager, calling after him. Though at first instance the call from the manager had sent shivers down his spine. Why was he wanted? Would they fire him? Was he now too old for the doorman's job? Questions such as these raced through his mind. But now, as he walked out of the manager's cabin, all his fears were gone, relief washing over him like a happy foamy wave. He was back at his position by the door with a new vigour and enthusiasm that looked somewhat odd for his age. 

Bhairon Singh was as alert and beaming as the day before when Sandeep walked into the office the next morning. 
'Salaam Sahib', this morning his voice was contagiously spirited as he clicked his heels together and wished Sandeep.

'Namasate Bhairon kaka. Aur sab theek? Aur haan, salaam sahib nahi, bas namaste boliye roz aap. Aapse bahut chhota hoon,' he smiled, a warm almost affectionate smile and walked inside.

Bhairon Singh stood there, weak in the knees, full of affection and blessings for the son he saw in the stranger that was his new boss. A son that he never had.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.