Again he was bored, and complained to Mrs Mahesh Kapoor. After a bit of grumbling – he wanted to go back to Misri Mandi, and his grandmother was very reluctant to let him go – he applied to his grandfather instead.
Mahesh Kapoor told Bhaskar with stern affection that he couldn’t help him. All such decisions were in his wife’s domain.
‘But I’m terribly bored,’ said Bhaskar. ‘And I haven’t had a headache in a week. Why must I spend half the day in bed? I want to go to school. I don’t like it here in Prem Nivas.’
‘What?’ said his grandfather. ‘Not even with your Nana and Nani here?’
‘No,’ stated Bhaskar. ‘It’s all right for a day or two. Besides, you’re never actually here.’
‘That’s true. I have so much work to do – and so many decisions to make. Well, you’ll be interested to know that I’ve decided to leave the Congress Party.’
‘Oh,’ said Bhaskar, doing his best to sound interested. ‘And what does that mean? Will they lose?’
Mahesh Kapoor frowned. The effort and stress that the decision had cost him was not something a child could be expected to understand. Bhaskar, besides, apparently doubted even that two plus two always equalled four, and could not be expected to sympathize greatly when the certainties of his grandfather’s life were shifting underfoot. And yet Bhaskar at other times was so certain of his facts and figures, though he may well have arrived at them by erratic frogleaps of abstract thought. Mahesh Kapoor, who was not awed by anyone else in the family, was perhaps even a little afraid of Bhaskar. A strange boy! He must certainly, thought Mahesh Kapoor, be given every opportunity to develop his rather eerie powers.
‘Well, for a start,’ said Mahesh Kapoor, ‘it means that I will have to decide what constituency I must fight from. The Congress Party is very strong in the city, but that’s where my strength lies too. On the other hand, my old constituency in the city has been redrawn, and that will present me with certain problems.’
‘What problems?’
‘Nothing you would understand,’ Mahesh Kapoor told Bhaskar. Then, seeing Bhaskar’s intense, even hostile, frown, he continued: ‘The caste composition is quite different now. I’ve been looking over many of the new constituencies that have been delineated by the Election Commissioner, and the population figures –’
‘Figures,’ breathed Bhaskar.
‘Yes, arranged by religion and caste in the 1931 Census. Caste! Caste! You may think it’s madness, but you can never ignore it.’
‘Can I have a look at these statistics, Nanaji?’ said Bhaskar. ‘I’ll tell you what to do. Just tell me what variables are in your favour –’
‘Speak in clear Hindi, idiot, it’s impossible to understand what you are saying,’ said Mahesh Kapoor to his grandson, still affectionately, but rather irritated by Bhaskar’s presumption.
Soon, however, Bhaskar had all the facts and figures he needed to keep him more than happy for at least three days, and he started poring over the constituencies.
12.18
WHEN Maan came to visit, he asked the servant to take him straight to Bhaskar’s room. He discovered Bhaskar sitting up in bed. The bed was covered with paper.
‘Hello, genius,’ said Maan genially.
‘Hello,’ said Bhaskar, rather abstracted. ‘Just a minute.’ He stared at a chart for a minute, scribbled down a few numbers with a pencil, and turned towards his uncle.
Maan kissed him, and asked him how he had been.
‘Fine, Maan Maama, but everyone makes such a fuss here.’
‘How’s the head?’
‘Head?’ said Bhaskar, surprised. ‘My head is fine.’
‘Well, then, do you want some sums?’
‘Not just at the moment,’ said Bhaskar. ‘My head is full of them.’
Maan could hardly believe this response. It was as if Kumbhkaran had decided to wake up at dawn and go on a diet.
‘What are you doing? It looks very serious,’ he ventured.
‘Very serious indeed,’ said Mahesh Kapoor’s voice. Maan turned around. His father, mother, and sister had come into the room. Veena hugged Maan tearfully, then sat down on the edge of Bhaskar’s bed after moving away a few sheets of paper. Bhaskar didn’t object.
‘Bhaskar’s been complaining that he’s bored here. He wants to leave,’ said Veena to Maan.
‘Oh, I can stay for two or three days more,’ said Bhaskar.
‘Really?’ said Veena, surprised. ‘Perhaps I really should have your head examined twice a day.’ Maan cheered up at his sister’s response. If she could joke in this way, Bhaskar must be all right.