Yesterday I stopped by the office of my former colleague R, on the left. Like me, he is retired. He was cleaning out his old office, meaning finding homes for books he could not carry back to his retirement home several thousand km away.

A mutual friend, K on the right, was helping by sorting through and taking some journals and books.

I hung around a half hour while we chatted and laughed, but I helped in no way except that R awarded me with a book I had not read. I took it home, a signed copy of Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance.