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.