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The agarbatti
Scenes from my childhood.… I’m sitting cross-legged in my grandmother’s puja room. Her gods sit enthroned, their faces aglow in the light of the brass oil lamp. Chants mingle with the sound of the conch shell and the tinkle of the brass bell. Offerings of fresh fruit, sweets, coconuts, betel leaves, fresh flowers are laid…
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A lost handkerchief
Its spring cleaning time! I quite enjoy the process, for it is a time of joyous discoveries and emotional reunions! Long-lost sock-twins hug each other tightly; while runaway buttons return to the family fold. That’s when I discovered it – a crumpled square of fabric, tucked right at the back of a drawer! It was…
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The Flower of Autumn
The days turn shorter. There is a cool mist in the early mornings. An Indian autumn is in the air. A rather untidy, nondescript tree in a corner of the garden tentatively puts forth a cluster of blooms – white stars on jaunty orange stalks. The sheuli. Others may know it as the parijat, the…