You know, yesterday a young passenger in my auto was talking about the new shakha near the old well. I just kept thinking of my own days as a boy, running in the maidan for volleyball, not politics. Now my knees are talking too much for drills, but I still nod to the uniformed boys buying chai. They call me 'uncle', and I hope their hearts stay soft for their mothers.

Ryan Gosling? Bhai, I had to ask my young passenger – he showed me a photo. All I could think was, yeh ladka kaun hai? For my wife, even the local eye doctor’s name is hard to remember. But this fellow, he’s in every chai-wallah’s phone now. I hope he doesn’t get the price of my radish increased.