smokers section

On most weekdays around 9.30 , Maharani the daily part time help ,our chief cook and bottle washer Shyamali and Tarapada the dafadaar ( for want of a better word to describe him ) , meander to the terrace to eat their breakfast , drink a hot cuppa and smoke a couple of bidis . Sometime Tara , maharani's sister in law also joins them . BRG's olfactory nerves having failed her cannot smell the bidis on anyone's breath - god bless her - or we'd never hear the end of it . The original smokers were Tara and Tarapada , Tara's baby hanging from her breast and Tara puffing away madly - this was about 20 years ago . S is a very late entry , this month I think . Sometimes , M's husband who checks on her at least 4 times a day to make sure she hasnt run away with somebody , joins them , downstairs , of course , not in the house - and they all squat around and have a puff before they go about their work . Sometimes I wonder whether I'm living in a campsite of sorts ..