Gogol Is Unaccustomed To This Sort Of

That's What Books Are For... To Travel Without Moving An Inch.

He Owned An Expensive Camera That Required Thought Before You Pressed The Shutter, And I Quickly Became His Favorite Subject, Round-faced, Missing Teeth, My Thick Bangs In Need Of A Trim. They Are Still The Pictures Of Myself I Like Best, For They Convey That Confidence Of Youth I No Longer Possess, Especially In Front Of A Camera.

Gogol Remembers Having To Do The Same Thing When He Was Younger, When His Grandparents Died...he Remembers, Back Then, Being Bored By It, Annoyed At Having To Observe A Ritual No One Else He Knew Followed, In Honor Of People He Had Seen Only A Few Times In His Life...now, Sitting Together At The Kitchen Table At Six-thirty Every Evening, His Father's Chair Empty, This Meatless Meal Is The Only Thing That Seems To Make Sense.

My Grandfather Says That's What Books Are For," Ashoke Said, Using The Opportunity To Open The Volume In His Hands. "to Travel Without Moving An Inch.

My Parents Had An Arranged Marriage, As Did So Many Other People When I Was Growing Up. My Father Came And Had A Life In The United States One Way And My Mother Had A Different One, And I Was Very Aware Of Those Things. I Continue To Wonder About It, And I Will Continue To Write About It.