The simple pleasures

He retired from the Indian Navy many years ago. He says we last met in 2011, though I seem to recall meeting him later in my (then) office on the other side of the river. Be that as it may, he took the trouble to drive over from Fort William and spend some time just catching up. Such a delightful conversation, ranging from the basic principles of Shinto to the effect that the scent of cortisone secretion has on animals, and covering in between the translated version of Buddhadev Bose's Raat Bhore Brishti and the difference in the stroke timing in swimming for sprints and long distance. Like books, some few people are also to be savoured at leisure. Or, as the Man (whose short stories also came up in the conversation) put it, "Apnake toh cultivate kortey hocche moshai!"