Abstract

Consider, for a moment, the second word in the title of this essay. Well, it may be part of the English lexicon; it may have a vaguely Russian feel to it but, if we are to be frank, most of us would be hard put to remember the last time we came across it, let alone used it. Time, then, for a magic trick with polysemy: let’s look for a lexical equivalent for ‘troika’ in the cultural context of India.