The narrator recalls a moment where a person is speaking about something significant, yet instead of feeling swept away by emotions, there is only a faint echo of a past trauma. This recollection is tied to the day in Bombay when the narrator received the devastating news of their mother's impending death. The intensity of that experience created a lingering feeling, akin to seasickness, that continues to affect the narrator.
This emotional residue serves as a reminder of how grief can settle within a person, sometimes surfacing in subtle ways during other moments of vulnerability. Despite the absence of intense emotion in the current interaction, the underlying sensation highlights how deeply certain experiences can anchor themselves in our psyche, shaping our responses to future events.