The village auntie is pulling the ropes tied to a matka, rhythmically churning away as though the future of Indian civilisation depends on her wrists. In the background, an A2 cow is grazing on impossibly green grass, occasionally letting out a gentle moo, presumably to certify the purity of the product. There is a mud…
There was a time when you fell ill, you went to a doctor. He put a stethoscope on your chest, tapped your stomach, asked you to stick out your tongue and scribbled something illegible on a piece of paper. You went to the chemist, swallowed the tablets, complained about the doctor’s fees and generally got…
From Kainchi riding and twenty-five-paise rentals to punctures, greasy chains and innocent bicycle romances, a humorous journey through the bicycle days of our childhood.
Every Indian house had a medicine box, although calling it a medicine box was often giving it more dignity than it deserved. It could be an old biscuit tin, a plastic dabba, a shaving kit, one shelf in a Godrej almirah or a drawer that also carried passport photos, batteries, safety pins, old prescriptions, a…
Decades back, whitewashing really meant whitewashing. It started with a bucket, a thick lime paste and a brush which looked more like a small broom than anything a modern painter would recognise. Painter Bhaiya would dip the whole thing into the bucket and slather it enthusiastically over the wall. Half of it went where it…
“Transistor” was probably one of the first physics words that entered our homes before physics itself did. Nobody thought of semiconductors, junctions or current flow. A transistor simply meant the chhotu radio, the small fellow that could leave the drawing room, travel to the terrace, sit in a shop, go on a train and generally…
Thoda Left. Bas! Hilana Mat. From Doordarshan and rooftop antennas to streaming, Wi-Fi and fifty years in front of the television. I guess nothing has really changed, although technology has kept marching forward. Nearly half a century ago, we stood on terraces adjusting television antennas while someone shouted instructions from the drawing room below. Satellite…
Auntie is talking to her tiny dog as I walk past. I have never quite understood how this works. The distance between Auntie’s mouth and the tiny dog’s ears is considerable, yet she talks to him as if every word is being carefully processed. “Chintu, idhar aao. Chintu, don’t do that. Chintu, good boy.” Whether…
First there is a solemn oath that you will hit the gym regularly. You don’t visit a gym or go to a gym. You hit the gym. Somehow that makes the whole enterprise sound more muscular than it really is. After the customary free couple of sessions, you negotiate for a quarterly or yearly package…
Your friendly neighbourhood jeweller always appears strangely unruffled. Crisp white shirt, preferably linen, ₹50,000 Silhouette spectacles resting over his ears, perhaps with platinum supports for all you know. His face has that peculiar jeweller glow which I have never understood. Why do jewellers have such Korean-glass skin? Maybe they do a facial every morning before…
