Apart from his daily exercise of reading the news, my grandfather would read his prayers from an Urdu Gurbani Gutka. A Gutka is a small sized book containing chosen hymns or shabads (sacred verses) from Sri Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh scriptures. When the sun would set, he would wash his hands and feet and bring out the Urdu Gutka which was kept in a wooden cupboard in his room.

‘Let’s Put the Little Things Right’ is a book that was first published in 1973. It was written by Colonel Lionel Gregory, the founder of Comex – The Commonwealth Expedition. Comex was started in 1965 as an expedition from Britain to India in support of the multi-cultural ideals of the then called British Commonwealth. The book belongs to Promod Shanker (my father-in-law).

Since 1987, not long after he retired as Class II Income Tax officer, thatha has been filling up one page a day with the words Sri Rama Jayam, meaning Jai Sri Ram in Tamil. Every single day, the same words repeated until they cover the entire page.

That’s the thing with tangible objects. They demand to make their presence felt. It’s impossible to ignore the texture of paper made brittle over time, the smell of it, the weight of history that’s contained within. More than the fact of the object, a book in this case, it suggests the owner’s state of mind.

The Janamsakhi tells many a riveting tales of Guru Nanak’s weary travels on foot with Mardana and Baala to distant lands including Mecca and Medina, across countless “jojans”