The generator hums from six to nine every evening. You'll hear it if your room faces the pump house, which two of them do. I keep meaning to build a...

The mist sits low on the water until about six, and then the first diesel engine starts somewhere past the paddy bund and everything changes. I know that...

The walk down to the jetty takes four minutes if I don't stop to talk. I always stop to talk. At dusk the light goes copper over the paddy, and the...

Mist sits low on the lake until about six-fifteen. Then the first diesel engine coughs somewhere past the paddy bund, and you know the fish boat is...

The boat cuts its engine about six minutes out, and the first thing most people notice is what's missing. No horns. No trucks changing gears on the...

There's a moment, usually about ten minutes after the boat leaves the jetty, when a guest goes quiet. You can see it happen. The shoulders drop an inch....

A retired teacher from Pune told me something last January that I keep turning over. She's been coming back every year, same week, same room, and when I...

The jetty is about ninety seconds from my door if I walk slow, which I usually do. Dusk is when the water turns the colour of old brass, and the first...

Rain on the tin roof is a different instrument than rain on tiles. Up here it starts as a low drumroll somewhere past the paddy fields, moves across the...