Jhumpa Lahiri

Woke up feeling not quite right. A very busy day followed. No time was wasted, not even for the necessities. Except perhaps those 10 minutes on the steps of the Post Office amid pigeons, the wind and an autumn sun.

Couldn't make it in time to Baruch College for Jhumpa Lahiri's book reading. All seats were taken. And unfortunately, no photographs were allowed. But it was pleasant listening to her read some of her old and new work. She is thinner and taller than I had imagined. Perhaps she is a bit hunched... or the lectern was too short for her. But it's amazing how her stories are so specific to people who come from the very same part of the world as I do, whose influences, given time and geography are similar and yet her themes are universal. It was moving listening to the extracts, how something so indigenous to a people can find a global platform.

She said something about writers who are able to assume a variety of voices have a chameleon-like quality, wearing each new identity with ease.