Toy trucks

I really don’t get it, but men of a certain age seem to have a regressive fascination with toy trucks. I’ve seen my husband salivate over pictures of Pakistani and Punjabi model trucks on this page of OT before, so when I spotted this pleasingly chromatic wooden lorry in Patan, Nepal, I could imagine the idiotic expression of infantile gratitude with which he would receive it. I bought it anyway. It’s from Educational Wooden Toys, near the Durbar Square in this historic town. They also have a nearby workshop, which tourists can visit and they do produce a variety of puzzles and anatomical models, most of which are genuinely educational. But some boys will never learn. If you too have a thwarted truck driver at home, you can’t go wrong with this little juggernaut. Rs 400