"Life is Calling"

The man was wearing a mundu , a white sarong, and a blue singlet, and he had been watching me from his balcony for several minutes. He was curious, perhaps even a little worried. Finally, he came to his door, and shouted: "What do you want?" I smiled apologetically. "I'm looking for my home," I said. "I think you're living in it."

With a frown, he listened. My family, I explained, had built a home of our own here in the neighborhood of Kodialguttu, just before I left Mangalore in 1991. This was the first time I had come...