Life and the poetry around it

  When I was in Lucknow, I went to meet a friend. While she was wrapping up work I had time to kill. My friend suggested a nearby mall that also had a bookshop. So I landed in the bookshop, and started picking some books from authors that I generally don't see much in the US. I ended up picking a bunch and as I was heading for the checkout counter, a man, maybe he’d been watching me and it was just out of some gentle concern, couldn’t help but suggest that books here are all overpriced and inflated and that I’d find them cheaper online. I was totally aware of the economics of price differentials that exist between buying a book from a physical book store vs buying it online. I already knew and barely cared for that price difference but I decided to play along. Because the way he said it, wasn’t nosey. It was protective. Like he couldn’t let a stranger walk into a small loss without at least trying to save her from it. We spoke for maybe five minutes. I don’t remember much of what h...