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I consider what route I should
take back home. If I were
propelled by enthusiasm for
travel per se, I would go by
bus and train to Patna, then
sail up the Ganges past
Benaras to Allahabad, then
up the Yamuna, past Agra to
Delhi. But I am too exhausted
and homesick; today is the
last day of August. Go home,
I tell myself: move directly towards home. I enter a Nepal Airlines office
and buy a ticket for tomorrow‟s flight.

Propelled: drive or push something forward
Per se: by itself

He thought of taking an adventurous route back home. It would be
a bus or train journey till Patna. From there he would sail in a boat
on the Ganga River and cross Benaras to reach Allahabad. From
Allahabad, he would sail upon the Yamuna River, cross Agra and
reach Delhi. He gave up this adventurous trip and decided to take a
flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi as he was exhausted. He
purchased a ticket from the Nepal Airlines office for the next day‟s

flight.

I look at the flute seller standing in a
corner of the square near the hotel. In
his hand is a pole with an attachment at
the top from which fifty or sixty bansuris
protrude in all directions, like the quills
of a porcupine. They are of bamboo:
there are cross-flutes and recorders.
From time to time he stands the pole on
the ground, selects a flute and plays for
a few minutes. The sound rises clearly
above the noise of the traffic and the
hawkers‟ cries. He plays slowly,
meditatively, without excessive display.
He does not shout out his wares.