NO CREDIT CARDS BUT TRUST!

NO CREDIT CARDS BUT TRUST!

In the very old times when there were trustworthy relations among people, money was something not needed urgently. I was a child in a small village in Yalova where there were younger children in my territory since I was the leader and trustful one. If someone needed something, he/she would call me and tell their wishes from the grocery to fetch. The little cute grocers were the only shopping place of the village. You could find every detail in one small shop. Grocers were a tradition that you could tell from nation to nation.

Today I want to tell you a story about a paying style that is special to the grocers. I looked it up in the dictionary as to find the word. The word that I found was “buy on tick”. I mean you buy a material and you have no money but you pay it later. Credit cards play the role of this method now but when you have a credit card, you should pay it on time. There are some procedures and processes. But this method was a very trustworthy one even today in small cities we use this method when both the salesman and the customer know each other well. For ex. Maybe they are relatives and well-acquainted. This may seem a bit different and odd to you in the 21^st century because it is hard to believe what if the customer doesn’t pay it or how does the salesman can buy goods for his grocery. These are complicated at first. You will read through my story how it goes on.

There was an aunt in our village. She was the woman that gave her milk (breast-feeding) to my daddy when my daddy was a baby. This was a tradition. We can see it as half- mother of my daddy. We respect upon her and she lives very close to us just opposite. Her husband was retired during my childhood. This couple had four children and all of them were married and  living different cities. They were alone and we were like their grandchildren especially me!! J they had small incomes as the pension was not high but regular. They were always buying their needs from the grocery with the method I have mentioned at the top. “buy on tick” . Every day the Aunt called me and wanted me to get their needs from the grocery. They had a small black covered notebook. I used to take it and go to the grocery for example “a loaf of bread and a kilo of sugar”. The grocer wrote down on my notebook how many I had taken and also wrote down on his own notebook the same.

 My Aunt sometimes used to tell me if you wanted something from the grocer like chocolate or gums as a reward, I could tell the grocer to write their notebook. But when I was a child, this was impossible. We were not the ones that can tell their wishes easily. We were warned not to want anything from someone. Nowadays I see that little children can easily get what they want. We were even ashamed of getting what is ours. So I was totally committed to my mission and I was very proud of this.

One day I noticed that some children came to the grocer to buy some tea but they wanted to buy it on tick. Their appeal failed with an angry response. The grocer said “ don’t you see the sign! Here it writes “WE DON’T SELL ON TICK”. Oh! I was shocked to see that sign as I was going there with the same response and got what my aunt wanted. At that moment I hid my notebook  when they went out, I told my aunt’s daily needs. But I was confused! What was the difference between them and me?

I went home to tell my mom the whole story. She said that if the grocer doesn’t trust someone, he doesn’t sell anything on tick. I got it then why the grocer told something like that and why the grocer never ever gave me angry response!!:) J

VERESİYE SATILMAZ ki??

VERESİYE SATILMAZ ki??

“Bir ekmek, bir paket de karbonat” öyle yazdır evladım! Söyle, ay sonuna ödeyecek  Amcan.” Nefes nefese koşarak bakkala “bir ekmek, bir de karbonat” dedim. Her gün mütemadiyen aynı saat ve aynı aralıklarla ve de aynı sipariş. Bir ekmek, bir de karbonat.. Çocuk aklımla ne yapar ne eder dedim bu kabartma tozu nev’inden karbonatı her gün bir tane. Ne işe yaradığını durup düşünüp merak ederdim. Karbonatı ekmeğin yanında katık olsun diye mi yerlerdi. Yoksa ev temizliği için mi kullanılırdı bir türlü aklım almazdı.

Siyah kaplı çizgili küçük bir defter.  Tüm ailenin aylık ihtiyaçlarını görebileceğin bir defter. Nadir ama bazen  içinde 1 paket sana, bazen de un yada pirinç türü bakliyat ürünleri olurdu. En sık olanı “bir ekmek, bir de karbonat”.

H. Teyzem, kimi zaman yaptığım bu aracılığa ödül maksadıyla canın çekerse bir de gofret yazdır derdi. Canı çektiğini istemenin görgüsüzlük olduğu ve ayıplandığı zamanlarda bunlar bize sıkı çimdiklerle tembihlenmişti. O bana emanet edilen bir özeldi. Hani çok sevdiğinize ancak en kıymetli eşyanızı emanet ederdiniz, ya da en güvendiğiniz komşunuza bırakırdınız ya evinizin anahtarını. İşte bende bana emanet edilen veresiye defterinin sorumluluğunu taşımakla görevlendirilmiştim.  Mahallenin çocuklarının yaşı en büyüğüne! Bu görevden o kadar mutlu olurdum ki, arkadaşlarımla mahallede top oynarken ya da saklambaç H. Teyzem, hep aynı saatte, aynı ses tonuyla “Ebruuu! Kızıııım! Hadi bir koşu bakkala git, bakkal Salim amcaya yazdır bir ekmek, bir de karbonat!” Altın anahtarın devir saatini teslim almak üzere olan bir küçük asker edasıyla içten içe gururla ve güvenle “Tamam H.Teyze” der, koşa koşa gider emaneti yeniden yerine teslim ederdim.

Bakkala gittiğimde Bakkal Salim amcanın tam başının üzerinde “VERESİYE SATILMAZ” ibaresi olurdu. Yazılı olup uygulanmayan kurallar silsilesi.. Neydi ki benim yaptığım, veresiyenin ta kendisi. Söylenenle yazılan arasında takılan ben.. Mahalleden bazı çocuklar bakkala gelip “Salim Amca! Annem bir paket çay al, salim amcan deftere yazsın!” derdi. “Yok! ,veresiye meresiye yok!” diye terslerdi onları. Tam o anda elimde defter varsa saklar, çocuklar gidince defteri yine bir güven ve gururla uzatır ve aynı cümleyi söylerdim. “bir ekmek, bir de karbonat”

Elimdeki defterin ay sonundaki mukayesesi olan ana defter Salim Amcanındı. Herhalde yazılanların denk olup olmadığı konusunda bir mutabakattı bu. Benim taşıdığım deftere yazdıklarımı kendi defterine de yazardı. Bu ana defter, mahallede veresiye ile alan ne yemiş ne içmiş ise sabıka kaydı gibi orada yazılıydı. “VERESİYE SATILMAZ” levhası bulunan bir dükkanda A’dan Z’ye kadar adı düzenlenmiş bunca kişiyle işler nasıl yürürdü ki. T.Beyden ayın yirmisine 70 lira, M.Abla fasulyesi çıkınca ödeyecek 54 lirasını, İ. Amca her 40 günde bir, A.bey gülleri bekliyor çıksın kapatsın borcu diye. H. Teyzem her maaş alışında tıkır tıkır öder hiç geciktirmeden… Bitmek bilmeyen hesaplar!..

“Anne! Bizim niye defterimiz yok ki! Paramız olmasa da ne istesek oraya yazdırırdık.” diye teessüf ettiğimde. Bunun bizim harcımız olmadığı, her ayın 15’inde maaş almadığımızı, varsa alıp yoksa susmamız gerektiğini sık sık öğütlerdi. O zaman daha iyi idrak etmiştim Bakkal Salim Amcanın beni niye hiç kovalamadığını ya da C. Amcamın neden veresiye yazdırma geleneğine bu kadar ihtiyaç duyduğunu…

           

THE BEGINNING

THE BEGINNING

I have come to a turning point about what to do next in my life. That was the point  perplexing in my mind “I should do something” .  Maybe that seems nonsense and useless but what you are going to see in these lines belong to my cultural and family matters. It is “story telling”. From  now on I am going to narrate the most curious things such as “food,  some sayings,  different expressions and using”. I was brought up by a very ridiculous family especially my grandma who doesn’t even know how to write and read. She was the most talkative and humorous woman in my life.  Whenever I went near her, I used to listen her very carefully and I imagined all the sayings in my mind.  I have always said one day I will tell the world what interesting and surprising events I have experienced.

If you ask me what started this intention. My grandma’s special leek patty.

 Our origins go back to Salonika as our great -grand parents were Turks livings there. During 1920s the Turks living in Greece immigrated to Turkey and the Greeks went back to their homeland.  This is a kind of barter. Many food habits come from our origins as this is a special food. We call it a kind of cultural leek patty (maybe I can’t translate the name just the same in my native language) you prepare dough for it. 

The most important part of it is cooking style. In the early times it was cooked on the stove not in the oven you put it on a tray.  If there is no stove you put it on the cooker when the bottom side is cooked you turn it upside down.

All through my childhood I and my sister were both skinny. My grandma wanted us to put on weight so she willingly used the method of cooking this patty and other food with high calories just for one or two more kilos. But in vain. .. it was useless but of course was delicious.

Well, back to our topic!! This cultural food is served with traditional drink ayran made from yoghurt.

 It is more fluid than yoghurt I hope you all know!  While doing these kind of traditional food women are easily able to criticize each other such as “ you had better put some more…., it is not like what I’ve done….., it should be thicker or thinner… etc.” By this time I giggle inside I find this undefined competition against women’s talent on food. Because all of them are delicious. I don’t understand why..

Whenever I find time, I will try to express what has hidden inside me so far back from childhood. So goodbye for now!