Ashok parked by a vacant lot tucked away behind trees. Govinda refused to get out of the car. A fan rotating air was glued to the dashboard. Ashok lit a beedi with a match and inhaled the aromatic banana-flavoured smoke. When he exhaled, the smoke idled in the air of the car. Govinda leaned in the direction of the pungent smell. The driver consoled him as Sunil Seth got out and carried a bag of rice and a box of vegetables which he placed against a makeshift mud hut. ‘C’mon, let us help your father,’ said Ashok.

‘I don’t want to,’ replied Govinda.

‘Then I will.’

A man on a bullock cart sniffed the air. Govinda watched a boy urinating against the temple wall as Ashok and his father carried sacks of rice and lentils.

‘Get out and help,’ said his father angrily.

‘I don’t want to,’ said Govinda in a toneless voice. Amongst the lepers, Govinda noticed a little boy, whose arms and legs were smeared with an antibiotic ointment. He was no older than Govinda. The young leper caught his eye.

‘Sahib, Backsheesh Sahib!’ he implored but Govinda, scared, turned away and retreated.

‘Life can be cruel,’ said Sunil Seth raising his voice. ‘If we all help and do some service, we can ease the burden for others that are less fortunate.’

Govinda was relieved to be out of their reach. The lepers looked scary. Their hands and noses were bandaged where the flesh had fallen away. Govinda had seen lepers before, occasionally walking in groups on the street, and he knew they would try to reach out and beg for money. He wanted no part of them because they were contagious. His father looked to the lepers and smiled. ‘How are you?’ he asked. ‘I brought fish and fruit and vegetables. You can have it all.’

An hour later they were stuck in traffic again. Tears glistened in Govinda’s eyes. He thought about the lepers and how they lived. Through the open doors and windows of the houses and shops he saw lamps burning before staring idols. Nearby he heard the sound of beating drums. The Howrah Bridge was covered in fog and seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

‘We are all human beings,’ Sunil Seth said. ‘But in India we have mastered the ability to see pain and misery and to be unaffected by it.’

‘The lepers scare me,’ Govinda said.

‘Just so you understand we all need spirituality.’ His tone intensified. ‘The Himalayan sages knew this. In effect the lepers know this. I know this. Are you listening to me? This is important, Govinda. I don’t want you to be proud. The first step to self-liberation is to be free of pride.’