- intermission -

How weird is it that hearing strains of the Indian national anthem somehow always makes tears start up in my eyes? Whether I'm sitting in my poorly ventilated London office with headphones in my head, in a Gaborone cinema hall, or in autorickshaw somewhere and a snatch of 'bharat bhagya vidhata' wafts out to me - my breath comes in a big gulp and in my mind i seem to see a thin old bald man walking determinedly at the head of a crowd somewhere, I can feel the touch of my mother's sari, and I smell sweet dust.

Seriously maudlin patriotism, what!