On the Well-worn Paths

Salut, I didn’t expect the last few weeks to at once feel so busy but also so empty. I often have lamented at how much extra free time I have, as opposed to being out and about. I certainly didn’t have that problem this time around. I remember June of last year and feeling that sense of emptiness. A sort of nothingness creeping up due to the end of the school year. At the beginning of June last year, I was visited by Bhaavya and we went on a grand tour around Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. I haven’t embarked on something quite like that, but the house is always busy. Immediately after school and graduation ended, the teachers and I were invited to a large wedding. Aldoberdi’s (the chemistry teacher) son was getting married. All the weddings I have been to have been because I know the groom’s family, which I find a bit of a coincidence. Baktygul was unable to come, as her husband hadn’t given her permission, which is point blank what I told the other teachers when they asked her wherea...