Home » cho 17.1 | Apr. 2021 Table of Contents » Priti Aisola, Paint Everyone with the Same Brush

Priti Aisola

Paint Everyone with the Same Brush

Two young men, who assist the main carpenter, are replacing our wire mesh windows. They are slow but skillful. I am seeing the younger of the two for the first time. After working for some time, he asks me for some warm water with salt in it. ‘Half a teaspoon,’ he says in Hindi. 

‘I will give you some warm water to drink. Why do you want salt in it?’  

‘I have come from Bihar recently. Change of water … air … my throat is burning.’ 

‘You don’t drink saltwater. It is used for gargling.’ He looks at me wearily. I give him some warm water and also give him two tiny black Ayurvedic pills to soothe his throat. I explain, ‘This is not angrezi dava (allopathic medicine). It has licorice, cloves, long pepper, cardamom, and some other ingredients.’  

We converse in Hindi. I make tea with ginger, holy basil, and cardamom for both of them. I give the younger man a second dose of the same pills. After the day’s work is over, when he is leaving, I ask him if he would like to take the small bottle of desi medicine with him.  

‘Yes. My throat feels much better.’ As I hand over the bottle to him, he asks, ‘Is this homeopathic medicine?’ 

‘No, it is herbal … Ayurvedic.’ 

He reads the English label on the bottle with ease, ‘Kanthil. I know Ayurveda.’ 

Barely concealing my surprise, I mumble, ‘That is good.’ He smiles. I am ashamed of myself for assuming that he was uneducated like the other helpers of our carpenter.  

a bird’s
woven nest …
knitting
I drop stitches and
blame it on the needles

About the Author

Priti Aisola has published a novel called See Paris for Me, a travelogue, and three collections of poems. Her latest book, Letters to Maya, is a work of creative non-fiction. She was introduced to haikai literature in 2020.

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