Salil Chaturvedi

A Little Knowing

We agree it’s too cold to be indoors. We decide to take a short hike up the nearby hillock and sit awhile in the sun. My friend’s seven-year-old daughter accompanies us and insists on carrying the water bottle while I carry a rug, some sandwiches, coffee and fruit in my backpack. The sun warms us slowly and we sit talking about old times and taking pleasure in the details of the world. A few swallows dart overhead in the light breeze. My friend asks, ‘Why do they fly around crazily like that?’ As a birder I am expected to provide an answer, but before I can say anything her daughter says matter-of-factly, ‘Because they know how to.’

old stories. . .
a tree’s shadow
goes past us