Yusuf presented the novel to Miss Thomas before she left. She had happily accepted the gift and said that she read a lot. Miss Thomas had a small bungalow in Colaba. Her parents had passed away and she was still unmarried. Every second month she hosted a small get-together of people of the same belief. They talked, debated and discussed topics like the present religious deviations of man and the freedom of his self. Yusuf became a part of these get-togethers, where he was able to connect with some residents of the city and realize how religion had created rifts in society; to prove itself to be the ultimate truth in the pages of history, religion subverted reality and used intuitions, miracles and the paranormal as weapons to meet its goals.

These debates and conversations were filled with knowledge, references and academic authority. In the initial few months, Yusuf preferred to remain a silent listener. He borrowed books, magazines and pamphlets from Miss Thomas’s library to read, and then he carefully returned them. Slowly, he became trustworthy in the eyes of Miss Thomas. One day, Miss Thomas called him up on the phone and told him that on the night of the dark moon, a ‘Luciferian dance’ was being organized at her place. She wanted Yusuf to attend it as well. He reluctantly agreed. He kept thinking about the Pune party for three days. Once the memory of it came with such intensity that he called Aymal up on the phone and talked to her for very long. This restlessness and sudden remembrance pleased Aymal’s heart and made her proud secretively. Before finishing the call, Aymal said, ‘Whenever and wherever happiness knocks at your door, you should never delay opening it.’

Yusuf loved Aymal’s large-heartedness. He told her that he totally agreed with her. He also informed her that Miss Thomas had organized a special party at her place, though he did not know much about it. Aymal informed him that such parties were organized every third month in the circle where the attempt was to feel the freedom that had existed in the hands of humans before the birth of religions. The second aim was to make sure that all present were also able to interact well with each other. She told him that these ‘circle’ parties were a form of resistance against the laws of the evil and its slavery. It was the announcement of the freedom of the self. He felt a little relieved after talking to Aymal. She said that she had introduced Yusuf to Miss Thomas so that evil didn’t cast its shadow on the freedom Yusuf had just experienced. He smiled and thanked Aymal.