A Suitable Boy(389)

‘Ask whom?’

‘Yes, Sunil Patwardhan, er, wouldn’t he know about the boy? It was his party, I believe. Poor Bhaskar. His, er, parents must be perplexed.’

Whatever this meant, Kabir realized that he would probably get more sense out of this new lead than out of his father. He got in touch with Sunil Patwardhan, who recalled that Bhaskar was Kedarnath Tandon’s son and Mahesh Kapoor’s grandson. Kabir phoned up Prem Nivas.

Mahesh Kapoor picked up the phone at the second ring.

‘Ji?’

‘May I speak to the Minister Sahib?’ said Kabir in Hindi.

‘You are speaking to him.’

‘Minister Sahib, I am speaking from the first aid centre just below the eastern end of the Fort.’

‘Yes.’ The voice was like a taut spring.

‘We have your grandson, Bhaskar here –’

‘Alive?’

‘Yes. We have just –’

‘Then bring him to Prem Nivas immediately. What are you waiting for?’ Mahesh Kapoor’s voice cut in.

‘Minister Sahib, I apologize, but I am on duty here. You will have to come down yourself.’

‘Yes, yes, of course, of course –’

‘And I should mention –’

‘Yes, yes, go on, go on –’

‘It may not be advisable to move him at present. Well, I shall expect you soon.’

‘Good. What is your name.’

‘Kabir Durrani.’

‘Durrani?’ Mahesh Kapoor’s voice expressed surprise before he told himself that disaster knows no religion. ‘Like the mathematician?’

‘Yes. I am his elder son.’

‘I apologize for my sharpness. We have all been very tense. I will come down immediately. How is he? Why can’t he be moved?’

‘I think it is best if you see for yourself,’ said Kabir. Then, realizing how terrifying these words might sound, he added: ‘He does not appear to have any external injury.’

‘The eastern end?’

‘The eastern end.’

Mahesh Kapoor put down the phone and turned to the family, which had been following every word at his end.

In fifteen minutes Veena had Bhaskar in her arms again. She held him so tight that they seemed to be a single being. The boy was still unconscious, although his face was calm. She touched her forehead to his and whispered his name again and again.

When her father introduced the tired young man at the first aid centre as Dr Durrani’s son, she stretched her hands towards his head and blessed him.





11.26


DIPANKAR, who had been thinking of death and almost nothing but death since the meaningless disaster of the stampede, said: ‘Does it matter, Baba?’

‘Yes.’ The kind face looked down at the two rosaries, and the small eyes blinked, as if in amusement. Dipankar had bought these rosaries, one for himself and one – for some reason that he could not explain even to himself – for Amit. He had asked Sanaki Baba to bless them before he left the Mela.

Sanaki Baba had taken them in his cupped hands, and had said: ‘What form, what power are you most attracted to? Rama? or Krishna? or Shiva? or Shakti? or Om itself?’

At first, Dipankar had hardly been able to register the question. His mind had reverted to the horror of what he had seen – experienced more than seen. Once more he saw the broken body of the old man a few feet away – the nagas stabbing at him, the crowd crushing him underfoot – the confusion and the madness. Was this what human life was about? Was this why he was here? How pathetic now appeared his hope to understand anything. He was more dismayed and horrified and bewildered than he had ever been.

Sanaki Baba placed his hand on his shoulder. Although he did not repeat his question, his touch brought Dipankar back to the present, back to the triviality, perhaps, of great concepts and great gods. `

Now Sanaki Baba was waiting for his answer.

Dipankar thought to himself: Om is too abstract for me; Shakti too mysterious, and I get enough of it in Calcutta; Shiva is too fierce; and Rama too righteous. Krishna is the one for me.

‘Krishna,’ he said.

The answer seemed to please Sanaki Baba, but he merely repeated the name.

Then he said, taking both Dipankar’s hands in his own: ‘Now say after me: O God, today –’

‘O God, today –’

‘– on the bank of the Ganga at Brahmpur –’

‘– on the bank of the Ganga at Brahmpur –’

‘– on the auspicious occasion of the Pul Mela –’

‘– on the occasion of the Pul Mela,’ amended Dipankar.

‘– on the auspicious occasion of the Pul Mela,’ insisted Sanaki Baba.

‘– on the auspicious occasion of the Pul Mela –’