I did not have the heart³⁷

Today the picture of me lifting twenty-six runners from our Marathon Team has appeared in New York Newsday. While we were watching the New York Marathon, Ranjana found the newspaper in a candy store.

The owner of the candy store asked me, “Are you from Trinidad or India?”

I said, “I am from India.”

He told me that he was from Gujarat.

I said, “Gujarat has produced many eminent persons,” and I named one very famous Gujarati.

He asked, “Is he still alive?”

I said, “Unfortunately, he is dead.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I am sure,” I replied. “His wife is also dead.”

He said that he had been in America for fifteen years, so he was not in touch with what was happening in Gujarat. I did not have the heart to tell him that I have been in America for twenty-two years.