-2005 Flac- — Salaam Namaste

Priya.

He looked at the screen, then at the folder. Salaam Namaste -2005 FLAC- . 1.2 GB of pure, uncompressed past. He could delete it. Or he could copy it to his new laptop, carry it with him, listen to the subtle hiss of the master tape and the ghost of a squeaky piano pedal.

A chat notification pinged on his phone. It was a message in a group chat from a number he didn’t recognize. A photo. A woman with short grey-streaked hair and a familiar smile, holding a toddler. The caption: “Guess who’s moving back to Bombay?”