top of page

Dear Readers,

 

Welcome to the second edition of our digital wallpaper, Tapri on Wheels. We are delighted to bring to you not just an experience, but an abode we collectively can call home. The hometowns of 37 students reside in these panels, waiting to be explored. Upon entering, instead of laddoos and snacks, we invite you to relish the soul food; filling your heart with a warm sense of nostalgia, reminiscence, reflections, and metaphorical chai that seeps way past into your bones, hugging you like a warm, soft blanket on a rainy day. 

 

This wallpaper features written works from across the country - taking you into an immersive journey where every one of us tells you the story of where we come from and how it's made us who we are. The chai tapris nascent to conversations, thoughts, and a quaint sense of belonging and love from across our hometowns will wheel in a memorable experience should you choose to pick up a matka, cup, or glass and sip from it wholeheartedly. 

 

Presenting to you the 2021 edition of Tapri On Wheels called 'Sheher-dar-Sheher: Hometowns' along with the very first Tapri On Wheels original soundtrack. Don't forget to press play before you start reading, let the music waft through your ears while our words waft through your heart.

 

To us, 'Hometowns' feels like the perfect theme for the second issue of the digital wallpaper - the first issue's theme being where we want to be and this one focusing on where we're from. This issue is all about where you're from and how it's made you, you. This issue is all about meeting new people on campus under the beautiful Lavale sky and talking about your journeys so far. This issue is for all of you, from all of us.

 

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Professor Mithunchandra Chaudhari for his support, guidance and belief in our ability to translate feelings into art - creating a community of not just those who write, but those who live too.

 

Warm Regards,

Aashay Inamdar, Gitanjali Tyagi, Trina Dutt

Editors - Tapri on Wheels

No Place Better

Aditya Rao


All I see is all I call home, as far as the eyes reach

Tagged as village but is a town, urgh that causes an itch


Home of different species and birds; animals, insects and people

Sounds like a jungle, well it was, now it roams free of evil


All my life I’ve been here, with my two guardian angel

Looking over me, expecting a lot, like I was able


Here I made friends, enemies and everything in-between

Not worrying about a thing, till I was nineteen


People here are rather proud, proud to say it out loud

Talk ill about our home, won’t let it slide like a passing cloud


We get together quite often, small and big

Have an annual fest, where our people perform a gig


Not a single soul wishes to move out, no place is better than here

Do come and give us a visit, Chembur it is, you are always welcome, dear.



A Place Called Home

Aditya Singh


As soon as the month of May started

The heatwaves would kick in

Bringing with it the spirit of holidays

All I could think of was playing all day in the outdoors

But unlike me, others were on a different plain of excitement

This excitement which was alien to me

Was the experience of visiting one's hometown

I have heard stories of how the elderly greet their kin

With bright smiles on their faces and pure love in their hearts

Filling your stomach with their famous sweets and childhood stories

Not a minute goes by without you not greeting some new relativeThe atmosphere is extremely nostalgic, but to child - it's true happiness

You can tell by the look in their eyes that they all want to be there

Here too, a routine is followed, but unlike their houses - here, it does not feel like one

It is like a child's dream place

All you have to do is wish and it will be granted

This experience was so common and taken granted for

That we were asked to write about it in school without enquiring - did some of us ever even have that experience in our lives?

Today, looking back at all these stories

All I feel is regret, for which I do not blame anyone

The regret is of not being able to experience such unconditional love Such camaraderie without having to think twice about

Having missed the true spirit of one's hometown

Maybe that is why it has the word home in it

Even though you're miles away from yours



Haileymandi

Ananya Garg


For this one, my friend,

I’d offer you a ‘charpai,’

A quicksand for your bottom,

Rather, take your feet up and lie.


Between half a vowel of a town,

If you give in to the breeze,

Know that poetry was in debt,

Not an offence to the peace.


Have you heard of Haileymandi?

Again, a blank stare.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi?

Now they seem to care.


After railways, it’s the bandarwala mandir,

The most crucial landmark in place,

Right behind is the batasha shop,

And young Sattu’s smiling face.


Is it the city or the guide,

Do we choose this souvenir?

For me, it was ‘nanaji,’

Maybe for Mandi too, I fear.


Tailed kites of the day,

Ursa Major of the night,

Maanjha lessons were stalled,

Those seven look for him despite.


Jugal Kishore Kirana store,

Mama’s shop but nana’s court.

No interaction purely transactional,

New customer, new anecdote.


Do they look for him too?

Or do those kittens he rescued one time?

It’s sure my parent’s grin,

Which has never again been so sublime.


Can I borrow your tourist lens?

Never to have grown up to this day,

The batashas are too sweet now,

And Sattu passed away.


Would you come with me to the terrace?

Let them trains pass us by.

They’ll polish our experience,

Of journeys platform-wide.



bottom of page