D. Murali

Chennai: Tucked in a corner of the dining hall, often along with mouth fresheners and tissue papers, is the humble toothpick, meekly waiting for its customers. But here is a whole book about it: ‘The Toothpick: Technology and culture’ by Henry Petroski (www.landmarkonthenet.com).

Toothpicking represents ‘the earliest currently known nonlithic tool use by hominids,’ and picking one’s teeth may well be the oldest human habit, the author suggests, citing research. Over time, sophisticated options and ostentatious accessories have emerged. For example, in the early twentieth century, there were ‘ivory toothpicks with diamond settings,’ mentions Petroski.

“Among toothpicks of questionable taste recently offered on eBay have been a ‘silver toothpick with twisted handle and turquoise top’ and a three-inch long gold ‘sword toothpick with black leather sheath.’”

Toothpicks have been innovatively advertised, too. For instance, Dr Barnes’ Toothpick projected itself as the ‘acme of cleanliness and effectiveness,’ with ‘endorsement of all the progressive members of the dental profession.’

Ideal postprandial read.

Shopping for the rich

While the retail binge finds mass expression in the hundreds of malls across the country, the truly rich want something more high end, finds Alex Perry in ‘Falling off the Edge: Globalization, world peace & other lies’ (www.panmacmillan.com).

“Soon after I arrived in Delhi, I was introduced to a man who called himself the ‘Flying Sikh’. Dharminder Singh Anand took personal shopping to a whole new, global level,” the author narrates.

“After gathering hundreds of orders from his 1,500 customers at his basement hole store in Delhi, Anand took a weekly flight to London and its department stores. On a typical visit he bought 500 items for 100 people, from $588 of make-up from Harvey Nichols to a pair of $510 Gucci shoes and a Hawaiian shirt from Baby Gap. He charged a dollar for every dollar spent.”

Fast-paced.

Tea tale

Every weekday in the season Calcutta holds the world’s biggest tea auction at J. Thomas & Co’s, brokers of Mango Lane, writes Jason Goodwin in ‘The Gunpowder Gardens: Travels through India and China in search of tea’ (www.penguin.com).

“A timely Ha!, an emphatic Want Some! puts you in the running. With you! is what you bellow across the benches when you want to share a lot with whoever is bidding at the moment,” he recounts. “All this is happening at speed and we have covered half-a-dozen lots before I am aware that one has been sold. Oh! means something, but I am not quite sure what; encouragement, maybe…”

Captivating details.

Offbeat and idiosyncratic movies

Taste, at least in the sense of decency, decorum, and propriety, is subjective, transitory, and evolving, observe David Sterritt and John Anderson in the intro to ‘The B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the low-budget beauties, genre-bending mavericks, and cult classics we love’ (www.dacapopress.com).

Throwing caution to the proverbial wind, the book zooms in on ‘movies that demand attention despite their lowly births, squalid upbringings, and dubious character traits.’ The selection is ‘so offbeat, unpredictable and idiosyncratic’ that the editors aver that the pictures are important for what they are or for what they aren’t.

“Cinema is more than the pictures that have grossed the grossest, busted the most blocks, enriched their studios most fulsomely, and been statuetted most enthusiastically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose membership has always been more interested in what’s good for the business of filmmaking than what’s good for filmmaking itself.”

Worth a study.

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