‘One second,’ she yelled. ‘Just wait. There’s enough for—’

The children realized at the same time, in their hive mind, that they didn’t need Gehna. They fell upon the American Tourister as one, snatching hand towels, ripping the loaf of bread to shreds. Gehna tried to back away, but she was locked in the middle of the frenzy by dozens of bodies. She felt a rough hand squeeze her breast, causing her to cry out in pain. Someone shoved her. She fell to the ground and curled into a ball as bare feet stamped all about. A single potato rolled to a stop inches from her face.

This is the end. I’m going to die here. I wish I’d eaten more French fries. Fuck fuck fuck . . .

And then, just like that, it was over. Gehna heard a familiar voice shouting and the child mob scattered. She stayed in her safe, foetal position with her eyes shut until she felt arms around her, lifting her up.

‘Gehna? Are you okay, sweetheart?’

It was Ajay Rai. He helped her to her feet. ‘Are you hurt?’

‘No. I’m okay, I think.’ She looked at her feet, wiggled her fingers. ‘Nothing broken.’

Fear turns to anger in a heartbeat. On Ajay Rai’s face, once he knew that Gehna wasn’t seriously injured, concern was replaced by a murderous fury. ‘Have you completely lost your mind? This is no place for someone like . . . my god, you’re carrying a child! What were you thinking?’

Gehna looked at the carnage left in the wake of her good deed. Trampled and torn clothes, grains of brown rice scattered everywhere. The American Tourister had disappeared. Bahadur, her father’s stocky chauffeur, was standing watch nearby. It was his voice she had heard earlier chasing the children away.

‘I don’t know, Dad. I don’t know what I was thinking. Just don’t yell at me, please, for like five minutes.’ She tried and failed to brush some of the dirt off her jeans. ‘How come you’re here anyway?’

Ajay clearly wanted to shout some more, but he controlled himself with visible effort. ‘I just got out of a meeting nearby and thought I’d come home for lunch. We saw the commotion and then Bahadur spotted you in the middle of it.’

They got into the back of Ajay’s Mercedes sedan.

‘I still can’t believe it. What the hell were you thinking, Gehna?’

‘I wanted to do something, okay?’ She sank into the deep leather seat and closed her eyes. ‘Just once, just for one day, I didn’t want to feel like nothing we do makes a difference. That we can change things, make them better and that this world isn’t always going to be the messed up shithole it is now.’ Gehna took a deep breath and slowly let it out. ‘You know that book Maximum City? There’s this guy in it who’s a business tycoon or something. And one day he just gives it all up. All of it—the business, all his properties, money, jewellery, even his clothes and shoes he gave away to the poor. He kept only four wooden begging bowls. He and his wife, and their two kids, planned to spend their lives walking the earth, depending on the kindness of strangers to survive. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard?’