As quietly as he could, Govinda slipped out of his bed. He saw his parents. His father stood close to his mother. His mother opened one of the French doors. Together, they walked out and peered from the balcony. He heard the gate rattle. A person was screaming. His father left the balcony and headed to the front door. Govinda heard him leave the apartment. He went outside to his mother and expected to see Ali Khan. In the semi-darkness, he strained to see who it was. The person yelling was on the other side of the school gate demanding to be let in. For a moment he thought he caught a glimpse of the hijra. Then he heard crying. It was the gatekeeper’s wife who was howling at her husband.

‘How dare you drink bhang and come to me like this? Get out.’ The gatekeeper’s wife was screaming and her voice echoed across the playground, through the compound.

‘But I didn’t!’ Tenzing protested.

‘Don’t say anything. Just get out. Leave me…’ Her voice trailed off. A third figure ran towards them. Govinda stretched his eyes to see clearly. Tenzing slapped his wife. She fell as the figure approached.

If Govinda’s father had not intervened, Tenzing probably would have hit her again.

A Sad Mystery

A Sad Mystery

At one o’clock in the afternoon the doorbell rang and Govinda went to open the door but his father was there first. It was Mumbles; there was an argument at the door, and the cook, eyes twinkling, came into the house and went straight to the kitchen. He was supposed to come in the morning to cook and then again in the afternoon to wash the dishes. But he hadn’t shown up earlier that day.

Mumbles explained that his other employer wouldn’t let him go. ‘Their cook didn’t come today, Sir!’ he protested. Mumbles had a shy, elusive demeanour as though he was hiding something.

Later he came out of the kitchen and began to dust the furniture. ‘My wife wants me to take the family to the Golden Temple, Sir,’ he said to Sunil Seth. ‘To celebrate Sri Harmandir Sahib…But I have no money to take them.’

‘When do you want to go?’ the headmaster asked.

‘When I save enough…Sikhs all over the world wish to pay a visit to Sri Amritsar and to pay obeisance at Sri Harmandir Sahib in their Ardas,’ Mumbles answered. Then he stooped to pick up the games which Govinda had left, as usual, in the middle of the room. There was a chessboard; each of the pieces lay scattered on the floor. Mumbles put them on a side table. After sweeping and mopping the floor, he returned to the kitchen and cooked quickly and with little fuss. When he had finished, he left quietly and closed the front door.