Filter Kappi & Family Drama

Rama Store — The Monthly Pilgrimage In those days, if you were a Tamil family living in Delhi, there were certain things that happened every month with the regularity of the monsoon. The electricity would go off at an inconvenient hour, somebody would receive a letter from Madras, and your mother would announce that it was time to go to Rama Store . There was no question of whether you needed anything. You were going. Rama Store was where the Tamil population of South Delhi went to obtain those things which Delhi, despite being the capital of the country, had apparently decided were unnecessary. Idli rice, urad dal, tamarind, appalam, coconut oil and various powders whose names could not be explained to a North Indian shopkeeper without a lengthy demonstration. The shopping list was usually written by Amma in a small notebook. It had been prepared after an inspection of the kitchen that could have been conducted by the Food and Civil Supplies Department. But by the time we reached the ...

  Being a TamBrahm in Delhi in the ’80s  In those days, Delhi seemed to us a very large place. There were wide roads, government buildings, DTC buses, winter fog and people who appeared to have been born knowing the difference between every variety of paratha. We were TamBrahms. This meant that while Delhi was busy eating chole bhature, we were at home eating sambar and wondering why anyone would willingly put butter on everything. We had come to Delhi for various reasons—government jobs, transfers, opportunities and the mysterious belief that children would somehow benefit from living in the capital. The children were not consulted. The winter Delhi winter was something our parents had clearly underestimated. Every morning my mother would look at the fog outside and say, “Wear your sweater.” I would say, “I'm not cold.” She would repeat, “Wear your sweater.” This continued until I wore the sweater. There was no argument to be won. My mother had never lost an argum...