Pictures and words

Today I want to write briefly about my late grandfather, S. K. Prabhakar, as I have come to know him. Daddy, as all of us called him, was the most well-read and upright member of the family. I could not spend much time with him, at least from what I can recall. When he died in 2001, I was only 7 years old. I have a very sketchy memory of him. He was an army man. After his retirement from the services, he started learning homoeopathy on his own. Everybody, especially my grandmom, tells me that he was like me. Earlier, I couldn't understand why they said so. I was too young to comprehend. I actually got to know and understand him better after his death, when I was given access to his room. His room was a treasure chamber. It had a lot of books, mostly on Homoeopathy, Stock market and Self-help. The latter was something I was most interested in. The self-help section had all the bestsellers of his time. So, later on, whenever I would visit my grandmom, the first thing I'd...

Today I met Daulat Jha. Iih had been telling me about someone who became 'Ghajini' (an Indian adaptation of the movie Memento). Iih is a person who'd always make serious stuff sound light. I'll tell you about him later. So, I reached the theater during a practice session in Teku, a place in Kathmandu valley, while Iih waited for me outside. We climb up the building to reach an in-construction theater where some artists were practising. That's when I saw Mr. Jha for the first time. I said a nonchalant 'Hi' and sat next to Iih, keeping him in the middle. In a while Iih asked me to sit next to him and talk, if I wanted to. I shook hands with him and introduced myself. He then told me his name in a much distorted voice. It took me some time to get used to his voice. When he asked me where I lived, I told him I was staying in Patan. As soon as I told him about myself, he took out his phone and started noting my name, and asked me for its spelling. Then he sta...