New Beginnings - Shri Ganesh

Dearest All,

Some would ask why the name,"Panwadi tales"? There is a beauty to the feeling of being a local, familiar with the streets , lanes and gullies that the word generates, something that is undiluted and Local about it, nothing cosmoplitan, nothing classy, nothing elegant- Just Plain Street.

There is nothing more commonplace than Panwadi ki Dukaan at the chowk, the nukkad, or across the gully. And there is no dearth of Chaurasia Paanwala's in the city I call home- Delhi. But then there are those who wouldn't bother even asking about the name and they are the real subjects of this Blog.

The I'm-too-cool-to-notice group...Oh yeah!

Notice how, when we walk the streets, we feel the most ease in walking up to the Panwadi for directions(despite what guys may say about their navigation skills, they do it too!). In any city, locality, or neighbourhood, be it in any state of India, they are a perpetual given. They're always there, always helpful, and mostly mind their own business, not so much of bleak-holes. A Panwadi on any given day meets hundreds of people from all walks of life: from the Spoilt Brat to the Nouveau Riche, from the under-aged to the elder folk, from the Hukkah to the Beedi, from the shy guy who scrams as soon as he's done buying his daily smoke, to the unabashed girl who ups her cool factor by walking up through the male-dominated swarm....a panwadi meets them all.

So to me , a Panwadi symbolises that part of the Indian streetscape that remains unchanged through time and place and transcends the superficial class-creed barriers; a freedom we all share as people. Something that the rich and poor have equal access to. Someone whom you see everyday, you walk past blindly, you blissfully ignore, and you only realize his significance when you walk up to him in the middle of the night for petty change for your auto ride (A situation I face almost everyday because the rickshaw drivers of Delhi find new ways of tormenting us daily... they never have change, and they always overcharge...but that's a different story).

The Panwadi to me was reminiscent of the Meetha Paan(kattha, gulkand and calcatta patta) when I was ten, a rebellious dare to walk up and ask for a Smoke in a truth-or-dare with friends when I was fifteen, a hive for miscreants when I turned eighteen, and a permanent entity I used as an ATM for small change when I turned twenty-four.That's exactly what this blog is about.

We, I and a few like-minded friends, began the thought of writing about the smaller pleasures of life, the innocent joys, that we step over each day. Things that we walk past everyday, but their shear beauty gets lost simply because we never take the time to think about it, or even evaluate it as an entity worthy of our attention. Things we could consider small, or we could also give them a minute of our attention and see their blatant boldness.

Lets count things,

Would you know how many shades of yellow and orange are there in your green grapes?

Would you know how little the fingers are that made that ethnic purse you were carrying?

Would you know how many people fought to keep that place from demolision...the one you just spat on?

Would you know how many different formations of clouds are there in the Thar...the rain thirsty desert?

Would you know that people actually donate clothes to street dogs in harsh winters in Delhi?

Would you know that Street food may be more hygenic than Fast Food?

Would you know where the street-performers hang out in your city?

Would you know where to dispose your e-junk near your home, instead of the dumpster?

Would you know how many of your public parks have become junkyards, uncleaned and unnoticed?

Would you know how many types of Paan are there?

Would you know how many types of Kaala-Khaata are there?

Would you know where to get Manchurian Dosa?

I wouldn't know most of these too...but what I do want to explore is the idea of writing about all those seemingly little people, places, incidents and events we walk past everyday. That which we have easy access to and turn a blind eye to, that may seem little or even minuscule to us, because we are too busy to notice. I just want to explore. So lets just keep this about exploring "The Smaller Pleasure in life" as Devadeep Gupta (alias DD) put it.

And I wish you could join us.