The Hookah-Smoking Patriarch

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

A finely aged gentleman sits in the yard of his home upon a leisurely afternoon. The ground beneath him has been freshly scrubbed clean by the women of the house, for the patriarch to spend a quiet few hours to himself thereon. He is cooking himself a small meal on the built-in angithi (rudimentary stove) and smoking a hookah. Whilst he does so, his withdrawn, unfathomable gaze takes in the comforting familiarity of his surroundings. He had built this home in the countryside at the peak of his youth. He has grown old having been witness to generations of his offspring upon the hearth. He is the very picture of the formidable Indian patriarch: dressed in a long, loose, cotton shirt, probably woven by one of his daughters-in-law, he has a fully bearded face and a regally beturbaned head. Note the typical features of the rural Indian home: the brick well with a raised platform and homemade pots left out in the sun to bake.