Madras Memoirs

I don’t understand the obsession of our people with the once ubiquitous but soon to be extinct paper tissues.  At restaurants, I see people grabbing a bunch of tissues and the small stand that holds the tissues neatly is empty in no time. The server may even happily bring you another cup of steaming hot sambar, but he will not bring another single tissue! In many small restaurants, issuing of paper tissues are highly regulated. In fact, you’ll get one handed over along with your change only at the cash counter. After you had duly paid - bypassing the stares of the bearer who served you the filter coffee and upma hoping for the elusive tips - the cashier will ceremoniously hand over a single 5x5’ inch crumpled tissue. When you visit the ‘hand-wash’ area, the moment the tissue stand is filled, there’ll appear from nowhere a dozen hands to grab them all – never mind that they had already wiped their hands clean on their pants or their duppattas – no gender disparity here.  The ...

As the year wound down to a battered end with muted celebrations, a prayer for a kinder 2021 is on everybody’s lips. Looking back at the horrendously sounding annus horribilis , it’s been a cruel, grim and yet a figthing gritty 2020 indeed. Once again undying human resilience and hope shone forth amidst the all encompassing darkness. Here is a quick round up of seven images that stood out during the year: 7. Chaos and Covidiots : Close on the heels of the pandemic, the other malaise of infodemic reared its ugly head. Tweets and WhatsApp forwards blitzed the cyber space and created chaos and havoc. Conspiracy theories and quack cures ruled the roost. Bizarre therapies like cow dung and cow urine were touted as ‘indigenous’ cure for covid and covidiots had a field day. As 2021 dawns on us, with a glimmer of hope in the form of vaccines, there seems to be no cure or let up from this spread of misinformation, half-truths and blatant lies. 6 . Social Distancing – what the hell is that?: F...