Nuzhat Biswas

But what do you gain by giving? It teetered, the question, like a teacup on legs performing a balancing act, on the tip of my tongue, but—to my credit, to my utmost credit—I did not say it. Instead, I asked, gesturing to the brilliantly untidy pile of books, “Why give these away? And at so low a price?”

I was nine, perhaps eight. In a darkened room where a small television set glowed and sang, I trembled with the knowledge that I was the only person who had ever felt these things. That isn't entirely true, of course, but in my imagination, it had seemed just as good.

A medieval French village in Malaysia

It begins with a listless thought, brushed aside. What does a heartbeat sound like, you wonder. Brush, aside.