I was hired to interpret a poetry night at the Sharjah International Book Fair. There were two Russian poets; the organisers did not give me the poems ahead of time. They even said, “We have a Hindu interpreter, he didn’t ask for anything.” Frankly, I was a bit selfish. I’d always wanted to go to the biggest book fair in the world, but the thought of driving to Sharjah was killing me. This felt like the perfect excuse, so I agreed, hoping to play it by ear (понадеялась на аво