Romance of Paan: How Urdu Poetry Takes a Leaf Out of Life of Leisure

Paan—a cultural motif across religious divides—speaks of a leisurely, relaxed, unhurried, inclusive way of life.

My earliest memories are of Abba, my grandfather, making paan (betel leaf). It was an elaborate ritual that required much advance planning. Of course the paan had to be bought by the dholi (platters of desi patta being his favourite), washed, its stems and tips nipped with a small scissors kept in the paandan (an elaborate box for storing all the ingredients and implements that went into the making of a pan) for precisely this purpose, each paan ka patta folded neatly and precisely along its spine and torn into two equal halves, then carefully stored in a damp, cool, red piece of cloth (a pure, somewhat coarse, cotton called tuul not to be mistaken with the gauzy tulle).