From the lawn, one heard reviews of both English and Tamil movies. Solid, serious discussions. Even the intricacies of cinematic techniques were analyzed in detail. The evening editions of the dailies had created buzz about a famous Tamil actress’s miscarriage. Some of the college boys sitting in the grass were worried about her. They sent a reply-paid telegram inquiring whether her bleeding had stopped. In fact, one of their group was stationed outside the telegraph office. These boys were anxiously awaiting his arrival by bicycle, and they were looking around impatiently. The oldest among them reminded everybody of the advances in medical science, trying to reassure himself as well as the others. Their conversation also revealed that the actress endured this physical ordeal just two days after giving a remarkably realistic performance as a woman in labor for a movie scene. Their concern for her made them a tad pious and philosophical, and they started saying things like “God always subjects the righteous to tests” and “Bad things always happen to good people.” If you looked at their somber faces, you would feel that you too must summon your inner purity and pray for the actress’s bleeding to stop.

Loud commentaries on political matters buzzed through the air among the people on the lawn. Ocher khaddar jibbas, veshtis with soiled borders, and shawls with obscenely bright green borders—all markers of various political affiliations—could be spotted all over the place. Things got really loud when a discussion turned into a debate and then heated up into a fight. People moved their heads and hands vigorously, their faces contorted terribly, their eyes going red and swollen with anger, and they raised their voices to shut the opponent down, howling like tomcats in heat. It seemed a shrill voice was now the index of sound opinion. And local expressions had vanished without a trace! Did they know they were simply mouthing the language of newspaper headlines? When an old woman came by to sell peanuts, one of the men told her he couldn’t buy any because his “budget was tight.” And she took it as a perfectly acceptable response and walked away.