The TOI of 1/1/07 can’t be accused of plagiarizing my title theme for its “India VS India”
front page headline. Mine is a more modest “Fergusson VS Fergusson” header for an article which is yet to be sent in, and which may never be printed ….its for the inaugural issue of the online magazine of Fergusson College.

I’m sitting in a rickshaw bumping my way home. A motorcycle pulls up alongside at the Gnaneshwar Paduka Chowk…An overdressed boy and an underdressed girl reeking of discordant perfumes were too much for my otherwise reticent rickshaw driver-“ This is what our culture has come to?” he asks. “God created men to be men and women to be women…so why are women dressing like men?” This with reference to the pillion rider girl wearing a pair of shorts…and even a shorter top. “Aapli Sanskriti Sudhrel Ka?” he ends with flourish.

I’m not sure whether he’s being despairingly rhetorical or genuinely seeking an answer.

I try a diplomatically disengaging line… “They’re young when they get to our age they’ll be different you’ll see”. The light changes to green and we’re moving again. Next stop-the signal at Good Luck Chowk. The motorcycle and its riders are nowhere in sight so thankfully my driver’s cultural sensibilities are not to be assaulted a second time. The signal’s still red.

There’s a break in the oncoming traffic, my driver takes off firing on all his cultural cylinders, swerving right towards Bhandarkar Road. I couldn’t resist myself: “Hey pan aapli sanskriti, nahi ka?”