Glimpses of India

Pader

The name still used in Goa for the traditional village baker. The word survives along with the trade itself — often passed from father to son — and is also thrown at anyone wearing half pants that reach just below the knee.

What are the elders in Goa nostalgic about?

The old Portuguese days and the famous loaves of bread that went with them. The writer's point is that the nostalgia is only half justified: the eaters of those loaves may have vanished, but the makers are still at work.

How do we know that traditional bread-making still survives in Goa?

The mixers, moulders and bakers are still there and the age-old furnaces still burn. Where fathers have died, sons have taken up the trade, and in some villages his bamboo can still be heard knocking and jingling to announce him in the morning.

Why did the children run out to meet the baker each morning?

Not for the loaves, which the maidservant bought and which went to the elders. They came for the bread-bangles they chose for themselves, and sometimes a sweet bread of special make — announced by the 'jhang, jhang' of his bamboo staff.

What place does bread hold in Goan social life?

Every occasion has its own bread: the sweet bol without which marriage gifts are meaningless, sandwiches for a daughter's engagement, and cakes and bolinhas for Christmas and other festivals. This is why a village cannot do without the baker's furnace.

Kabai

The baker's distinctive dress in the Portuguese days: one long knee-length frock cut from a single piece. By the writer's own childhood this had given way to a shirt and trousers cut shorter than full length but longer than half pants.

What shows that baking was a profitable profession in the old days?

Neither the baker nor his household nor his servants ever went hungry, and all of them wore a contented, well-off look. Their well-fed build advertised the fact, which is why anyone shaped like a jackfruit is still likened to a baker.

How does the writer use his childhood memories to show what Goan village life was like?

He recalls it through a child's senses rather than as history — the jingle that woke them, the fragrance of the loaves, peeping into the basket from a parapet, skipping the mango-leaf toothbrush because hot tea would do. The affection in the detail is the portrait.

Coorg

Also called Kodagu, the smallest district of Karnataka, lying halfway along the road from Mysore to coastal Mangalore. Evergreen rainforest covers thirty per cent of it, and it is known for its coffee, spices and rolling hills.

When is the best season to visit Coorg, and why not during the monsoon?

From September to March, when the weather is perfect with a few showers for good measure. During the monsoon it pours so heavily that many visitors stay away altogether.

What story is told about the descent of the Kodavu people?

That they are of Greek or Arabic origin. One account holds that a detachment of Alexander's army worked its way down the coast and stayed when going home became impractical, marrying among the local people — which would explain martial traditions and rites distinct from the Hindu mainstream.

Kuppia

The Kodavus' long black coat, belted at the waist with embroidery. Because it resembles the kuffia of the Arabs and Kurds, it is cited as support for the theory that the people of Coorg are of Arab descent.

What evidence does the writer give for the martial reputation of Coorg?

The Coorg Regiment is among the most decorated in the Indian Army, and General Cariappa, the first Chief of the Indian Army, was a Coorgi. Kodavus also remain the only people in India allowed to carry firearms without a licence.

The Kaveri in Coorg

The river that draws its water from Coorg's hills and forests. Mahaseer, a large freshwater fish, abound in it; kingfishers dive for their catch, squirrels and langurs drop half-eaten fruit for the splash, and elephants are bathed and scrubbed there by their mahouts.

What does the writer mean by saying the most laidback people become converts to high-energy adventure in Coorg?

The place turns even unhurried visitors into thrill-seekers. It offers river rafting, canoeing, rappelling, rock climbing and mountain biking, and its many walking trails are a favourite with trekkers.

Brahmagiri, Nisargadhama and Bylakuppe

Three places that reward the visitor who walks. Climbing the Brahmagiri hills opens a wide view over misty Coorg; Nisargadhama, an island of sixty-four acres, is reached across a rope bridge; and Bylakuppe nearby holds the largest Tibetan settlement in India.

What does Rajvir tell Pranjol about how widely tea is drunk?

Over eighty crore cups are drunk every day around the world. The claim opens the section and is borne out around them — almost everyone in their railway compartment is drinking tea as he says it.

The Chinese legend about the discovery of tea

An emperor who always boiled his water before drinking it was served by chance: a few leaves from the twigs burning under his pot fell in and gave the water a delicious flavour. They are said to have been tea leaves.

The Indian legend of Bodhidharma

An ancient Buddhist ascetic who cut off his eyelids because he kept feeling sleepy during meditation. Ten tea plants grew where they fell, and their leaves, steeped in hot water, drove sleep away.

What does Rajvir know about the early history of tea?

Tea was first drunk in China as far back as 2700 B.C., and words like tea, chai and chini come from Chinese. It reached Europe only in the sixteenth century, and even then was taken more as a medicine than as a drink.

Why did Pranjol not share Rajvir's excitement at the sight of a tea garden?

Having grown up on a plantation himself, he found tea gardens perfectly ordinary. He tells Rajvir that nowhere in the world are plantations packed as densely as in Assam, and that he will see enough of them to last a lifetime.

What did Rajvir see from the train as it approached tea country?

Soft green paddy fields giving way to tea bushes, then a sea of bushes stretching to the horizon against densely wooded hills. Tall shade-trees dwarfed the plants, doll-like figures moved among the orderly rows, and an ugly building poured smoke from tall chimneys.

Dhekiabari Tea Estate

The garden in Upper Assam managed by Pranjol's father, Mr Barua, reached from Mariani junction. Acre upon acre of bushes pruned to a single height line the gravel road, where pluckers in plastic aprons work with bamboo baskets on their backs.

The second flush

The sprouting period lasting from May through July, which produces the finest leaf of the year. Rajvir names it correctly on arrival, which is what surprises Mr Barua into remarking that he has done his homework before coming.

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