55. Origin, part 3.

They strolled by a duty-free store that meandered, amoeba-like, along a length of the terminal.

"Something to always consider when you're in India," Sid said in his careful, deliberate way, "is that there isn't any other place in the world, for whatever reason, where so many contradictions can coexist." Sid sipped his coffee, peering at the bright packaging of perfumes in a window display. "You will hear that from practically everyone who's been there, and it's completely true."

Nan had heard that, but it always sounded like a touristy sort of thing to say. "Right, the wealth and poverty, the...well, the modern and ancient, that sort of thing?"

"Those, yes, but all that's on the surface. That land has contradictions that go far deeper. Spiritual contradictions."

This was the first time Nan had heard Sid talking with this sort of complexity, or using a term like "spiritual." She wondered what this meant, what kind of contradictions. "Good and evil?"

Sid turned from a display of gaudy cigarette cartons, and smiled. "Simple and complicated," he said. They walked on.