Belonging Archives - understand-culture

Equal Shares

In 2018 India won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. The BCCI announced Rs 50 lakh for the coach, Rahul Dravid, Rs 30 lakh for each player and Rs 20 lakh for each member of the support staff. Dravid asked for a change. “He said you can reduce my [reward] but pay the players and other people, too,” said Vinod Rai, who headed the board’s administrators. Under the revised list, Dravid and the staff were each to receive Rs 25 lakh.

In July 2024, after India won the T20 World Cup, Dravid was due Rs 5 crore and the other coaches Rs 2.5 crore each. “Rahul wished to receive the same bonus amount of Rs 2.5 crore as the rest of his support staff,” Business Today reported.

The Five Beloved

In 1699, at Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh called on the assembled Sikhs for a man who would give his head. Daya Ram came forward first, and four more followed. They came from places as far apart as Hastinapur, Puri and Bidar, and from different castes, among them a Khatri shopkeeper, a Jat farmer and a Chhimba calico printer. They became the Panj Pyare, the five beloved, the first members of the Khalsa.

Then, in the words of SikhiWiki, “the Guru asked the first five Khalsa Sikhs to baptise him, in the same manner.”

My Dear Reliance Family

Reliance Industries marks the birth anniversary of its founder, Dhirubhai Ambani, as Reliance Family Day. In December 2025 the chairman, Mukesh Ambani, addressed employees as “My dear Reliance Family.” He thanked “each and every Reliance colleague and your families for your contribution.”

The Reluctant Secretary

In the web series Panchayat, Abhishek Tripathi, a young engineering graduate, takes a government job as secretary of the village panchayat of Phulera. His “only goal is to clear the CAT exam and get out of Phulera,” The Quint wrote. The CAT is the entrance exam for business schools. In the fifth episode of the first season he speaks of how lonely he feels in the village.

By the third season the villagers see him as “their very own Sachivji,” The Tribune wrote. A review of the fourth season describes “his growing love for Phulera.”

Partners, Not Employees

The dabbawalas of Mumbai carry lunch boxes from homes to offices. A study published by Open Book Publishers describes “the 5,000 members, who are not employees but partners, members.” To join, a dabbawala pays the association “twenty-five to thirty rupees in dues.” Work is organized in units. “Each month there is a division of the earnings of each unit,” Wikipedia notes.

Like a Family

K. Kasturirangan, a former chairman of ISRO, died on April 25, 2025. The chairman of ISRO, V. Narayanan, said that Kasturirangan “was like a family to the 20,000-odd ISRO employees.”

Bada Khana

In the Indian Army, a bada khana, a big meal, is a feast at which officers and soldiers eat together. In June 2025 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh shared a bada khana with soldiers at Udhampur and called it Ekta ka Utsav, a festival of unity. “We are not just soldiers, but a family,” he said.

Writing in Swarajya, Brigadier Ashish Jindal said that “partaking the soldier food and drink is still the essence of badakhana.”

One and One Make Eleven

Ek akela, do se gyarah. One is alone, two make eleven. The Rekhta dictionary explains in Hindi that two people together can do much work, and that there is great gain in joining.

A shorter form is ek aur ek gyarah hote hain, one and one make eleven.

To Count as One’s Own

Apna samajhna, to count someone as one’s own. The Rekhta dictionary defines it in Hindi as behaving without hesitation in a close or friendly relationship, and counting someone as dear, close, a companion or a confidant, vishvaspatra. Its second meaning is to regard something as one’s own property.