Kotian Uncle.
A quiet Mangalorean. A loud Ghatkopar lifer.
Mangalore-born, lived earlier and worked at Fort near Victoria Terminus at a bank. Ghatkopar settled and retired. In the tradition of R.K. Laxman's Common Man — but with reading glasses that keep slipping, a BEST pass that no longer scans, and a plastic bag with ₹500 folded small, "for emergency".
the character
Kanchan Kotian. Known as Kotian Uncle since 1985.
Name
Kanchan Kotian. Everyone has called him Kotian Uncle since 1985.
Age
Late-70s. Retired twenty years ago from Canara Bank. Still reconciles his passbook by hand.
From
Born in Udupi. In Mumbai since the first local to Dadar had a wooden interior. Speaks English with almost everyone, can't speak Marathi even though he's stayed in Mumbai his whole life, Hindi with the auto, and a few words of Tulu on the Sunday call home. Fluent in Local Train.
Lives
A one-bedroom in Ghatkopar East, two lanes off R B Mehta Marg. The building has a mix of Maharashtrians and South Indians. He is related to none of them.
Wears
Striped polo over trousers for errands, a cotton bush-shirt for the Udupi hotel downstairs, a mundu at home after 7pm. Likes his whisky drink — 2 pegs every evening.
Carries
Plastic bag mostly. A BEST bus pass from 1994 that no longer scans. ₹500 in cash, folded small, "for emergency".
Signature
The thick square dark frames. The raised eyebrow. The two-second pause before any Tulu reply.
Catchphrase
Half-muttered, over filter coffee: "What nonsense is this, I say." On rare occasions, under his breath, a single Tulu "Appa."
what he's made of
Three ingredients, one uncle.
Honest to a fault
Will not bribe the RTO clerk. Returns the ten rupees the sabzi-wallah gave back by mistake. Pays the exact fare, in coins, counted twice before boarding.
Quiet, reading everything
Says perhaps twelve words a strip, almost always in English. The eyebrow carries the rest, and the two-second pause before it tells you he caught what everyone else missed.
Short fuse, longer heart
A ten-second outburst — "Arre, what rubbish is this!" — ending, on the hottest days, with a muttered Tulu "Appa." Then, quietly, he buys the same man a cutting chai. The temper is loud. The forgiveness is louder.
sample panel
In the single-frame tradition.
"The next table ordered mushroom idli with cheese sambar. Kotian Uncle considers, for the third time this year, moving back to Udupi."
Kotian Uncle · Udupi Krishna Bhavan, Ghatkopar East · a sample single-frame