I stood in a barren courtyard beside the city palace watching the beggar children play with their kites. The only child concentrated on keeping his kite aloft was the youngest boy. The dozen other children were more concentrated on me than their kites. They flew with one eye and kept their other eye on me. […]

In the dark I pushed my paddle against the concrete and drifted to the center of the river. Behind me was the steady thwap, thwap, thwap of a woman standing in the river slapping her laundry against the concrete platform. I looked back to watch her. Her red and yellow sari floated around her ankles. […]