Vignettes en Route

The march towards offices starts at half-past nine. At first, it is the run of the attendants. They are turbaned, clad in khaki uniforms, with three or four rounds of red serpentine cummerbund around the waist. A few of them carry in their cummerbunds a small knife with ivory handles inside ornamented sheaths. A mimicry of the castrated guards of the Mughal empire. Those are the attendants to the secretaries or the hon’ble members. They are the major-generals among the ranks of the orderlies. A bundle of files wrapped in a red coarse packaging sits on the carrier of their bicycles, which the sahibs carry home on Saturdays and most of which are returned untouched on Mondays.