A class apart

Article settles into soft cushions and runs speculative eye on road travelled by these variously wheeled vehicles. How did these objects of everyday utility turn into what we may call figures of fun?

A drawing room sofa upholstered with bold graphics runs the risk of showing poor taste. But sofa cushions, by convention, are a licence for graphic fun. My sofa set sports a smart black and white set (pictured) of four, with printed and crudely embroidered naïve drawings. They picture: a bicycle; a hand-pulled rickshaw; an Ambassador car; and, that most beloved of urban symbols, a three-wheeler scooter rickshaw (TSR in sarkari bhasha; to some foreign tourists, a tuk-tuk). Visitors usually register them with micro-smiles, given with faintly amused approval and without comment. 

Deep Design settles into the soft cushions and runs