R. Rajagopal | | Published 20.04.21, 01:37 AM
I was born in a house whose walls were carpet-bombed with framed portraits, many of which were of blood relatives I had never heard of, let alone seen. Those impossible not to recognise were not related to us at all: Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel….
My home was not godless but even the original triumvirate of Vishnu-Shiva (Brahma’s pictures are usually kept out) found themselves on a lower pedestal not because of any discrimination but probably driven by the practical reason that the lamps would be within the reach of the children to be lit at dawn and dusk, every day if possible or occasionally in those days of easy forgiveness.