Em and the Big Hoom

by Jerry Pinto

And so we did not sit like that for long because she was acknowledging the gesture of being comforted by pretending to be comforted. The effort was too great, and finally she took her hand

away and said, ‘Go baba, go do your work,’ and then exhaled her relief. As I exhaled mine.

I lost my faith as an hourglass loses sand.

‘One thing,’ he said. ‘If you want to get people to talk to you, you should never interrupt.’

‘Stops them. Gives them time to think. Interrupts the flow. If you want to get more, you shut up and wait.’

And in the bookshops, there weren’t many buyers. Just lovers, long-distance lovers.

As a prescription, that wasn’t a bad one: when you can, not when you want to.