"His wife had just died and he went to teach his classes anyways..."

a lesson on grief across the boundaries of culture

This Tamil Nadu ration office in Pasumalai has a framed photo of a dead white man inside…why? Source: Google Street

In the government ration office of a small suburban community near Madurai, Tamil Nadu rice fields, there is a glass-framed, black-and-white photo of a bald white man on the back wall behind the counter. The picture has no name on it. It is…