The Magazinewala

The 'magazinewala' is a man who comes to my house several days a week. He delivers one of the latest magazines. He does this several times a week, taking the previous one back. The magazines should be returned in the condition in which they were given as he sells them after a while to secondhand magazine sellers.

Before I had the internet, the magazinewala's visits were probably among the highlights of my week. Contact with the outside world, so to speak. I still get magazines but they're probably not as important as they once were. The internet is like a big magazine which is constantly updating.

My magazinewala left me over a year ago but he came back and I took him on again. In fact, I needed him because my house has no English newspaper delivered. Hindi is a wonderful language. The trouble with Hindi, though, is I'm not very good at it, so English newspapers are necessary. We can't always find the time to switch on the computer and read the web versions of newspapers.

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