Appo, last week our Ammachi ku mathram vendi water bottle and pencil case edukan vanne—she’s thirty-five, her mother in Thrissur still writes with a fountain pen, she said. I told her, “Venda, Amma, you bring your mother a new eraser from my shop, that onion-scented one from Japan, she’ll smile like she won the PTA raffle.” This whole hullabaloo about “modern parenting” and “letting children choose”—yes, my own son wanted a blue uniform shirt instead of white last June. I said, “Kochu, nammal school rule follow cheyyunnu, not the other way round.” Fairness is fairness, whether it’s a uniform or a promise to an ageing parent—it doesn’t bend for convenience. The new mall can bring all the fancy shop they like; my regulars know where their mother’s favourite eraser lives.