1881

Factory Act. fixed working hours for children below 12 dangerous machines fenced.

Vernacular Press Act repealed.

Census System introduced in India

A curtain- huge seven story mansion of Bombay, streets, railway lines, ships and factories.

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Sarasvati:

It is raining in Bombay and the streets are full of large black flowers moving briskly on dhotis and pants and sarees. The water bounces off those thick petals, runs down them onto the ground. Sometimes a flowerhead moves and you see a face stuck like a lump in a plant's throat. But most of the time, the rain is hard, and no one's face is seen.

Dhundhi falls ill that monsoon, his face is pink with a cold that will not go, his nose is red, his eyes are always watering and his head is so hot, you'd think someone had tried to cook him. His mother gives him all manner of medicine, but to no avail. That is when his Kaka swings his bottle with the sugar pills

Sarasvati: Dhundi's kaka worked in the railways in the day, but in the evenings, he became a doctor. He had a cupboard full of 300 bottle with little white pills that were sweet.. and all kinds of liquids in a dusty cupboard in his living room. He had hardly any patients. So he was most delighted when Baba

Mandakini:

Dhundhi

Sarasvati:

He was most delighted when Dhundhi fell ill. That evening, when Dhundhi got up, sneezing and coughing, he saw that his Kaka was standing over his head. Small white pellets were being bounced about in a transparent glass tube.

Dhundi shook his head. His worried mother who was standing behind said" Dhundi, do as Kaka says, this medicine cannot harm you"

Dhundhi looked at her, she looked doubtful herself. He shook his head again.

Kaka made a funny noise at the back of his throat, which meant, " Just listen to me!"

(Neelkanth is giggling.)

Neelkanth:

Like how??

Sarasvati Bai purses her lips and pushes the muscles of her throat till an odd sound, like of a turkey clearing his throat, emerges.

All the children laugh, Neelkanth gets a extended fit of giggles.

Sarasvati Bai:

" Just listen to me!"

and so Dhundi swallowed the medicine. And it was sweet.

His kaka then grandly said

Water has memory, Dwarkabai. I give a water poison,and then keep diluting it, till the poison seems to be gone. Then I put these sugar pellets into the water, and carrying it

Manda: Like a medium, like the voice for a ghost..

Kaka: Carrying it, the sugar pills travel in your body, smell out the similar poison. Poison meets poison and is demolished by itself.

Dwarkabai:

You are making it sound mysterious like Abhimanyu's Chakravyuh, bhau!

Mandakini:

Did Baba become alright?

Sarasvati bai nods her head:

He did.. ( looking at Mahadev).. but he was not sure, was he going to recover anyway- or was it that the waters had actually got a memory?

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1881 Ravi Varma spends time in Baroda. He is invited to attend the investiture ceremony of Sayaji, who is finally getting his rightful powers as a king. T Madhava Rao is Dewan at the Baroda court. As state guest of Baroda, Ravi Varma paints prolifically. He gets an order of five Puranic and religious pictures, including Nala and Damayanti. Do you know the story of Nala, the poet who learn how to count?

Not today, I will write it for you later sometime. Difficult for a man down on money to remember the lesson of this story. Difficult as counting the leaves on a tree. Difficult..

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