‘That's not how it is, Anima. How can I explain?’

‘What's there to explain? I see Ono in you.’

‘That's a different culture.’

‘Yes and no. They are as traditional as we are.’

‘Who are “they”?’ Janaki wants to come in.

‘The Japanese. This novelist Kazuo Ishiguro . . .’

‘The Booker Prize winner?’

‘Yes. But that was for a later novel. This one's about painters, the society they live in and all that.’

‘So who's Ono?’

‘Ono is a young artist. He lives in the guru's gurukul with the other disciples. They are expected to have total faith in their guru's world view and paint his subjects in his style. A point comes when Ono can’t accept this. The guru's pictures are romantic depictions of beautiful geishas and colourful nights spent drinking sake. But Ono sees another, more disturbing world around him. He paints this world. His paintings upset the guru but he dismisses the work as the energy of youth expressing itself. Ono protests it has nothing to do with energy. This is how he thinks, he says. He doesn’t believe an artist should be forever sunk in the contemplation of beauty. We live in difficult times. The artist must look around and give value in his work to what he sees. The guru explodes and tells Ono to leave the gurukul.’

‘And?’

‘The room in which the conversation takes place has been darkening. Ono lights the lanterns one at a time. That is his chore in the gurukul. Then he leaves.’

12

Dear Janaki,

I have just found out that you are working for an English newspaper in Mumbai. I knew what was happening with you when you were in Madras. You never asked me how. There was a person I used to send you letters through once in a while. I don’t know whether you read them or threw them away. I wrote from a mother's heart. It can’t stop feeling for a child. The man in Madras gave me your Mumbai office address. I will write to you whenever I can, my dear. It is my solace in the hell that I live in. It gives me strength to know that someone of my flesh and blood is living with self-respect. Even if she is angry with me, she is mine. Why did you leave the Madras job? Is the new job better? I hope you are eating well. Don’t neglect yourself, my pet.

Ai