‘If you are coming to Australia you are going to have to get your priorities straight,’ he said and handed a box of cards to Govinda. It was a set of Australian cricket stars. Govinda had wanted these cards. He’d seen them, coveted them, and now he had them. The Australian option seemed very good suddenly.

No one said anything outside the hotel after the interview. The Sikh demonstrators seemed to have disbanded. As they walked to the car, they passed a red, stencilled portrait of a famous Chinese leader on the street corner. Govinda had seen the leader’s face before but could not remember his name. They stopped at a sugar cane juice stand. A man wearing a white t-shirt, blue lungi and a green turban turned a large wheel that crushed sugarcane and ice through smaller wheels. The juice dribbled through a strainer. As he poured the yellow liquid into a glass, Govinda saw another man dressed like a porter in a red shirt and a white dhoti, he held a stick in one hand, who seemed to be giving an impromptu concert complete with dancing bears that enthralled a crowd. For small change, he got his bears to stand on their hind legs and clap their paws. The bears obliged with the saddest of eyes to the delight of the crowd. A little dog ran in front of one of the bears and let out a burst of high-pitched barks. The crowd laughed louder. Govinda’s father looked at his mother and said, ‘I can no longer deal with this. I want to experience a new life in Australia.’ His skin looked grey and he appeared helpless.

The Eyes of God

The Eyes Of God

One Saturday in October, the weather started to change. It was early autumn and the season of festivals was beginning. By seven o’ clock, in the school, in the lane, in the nearby bazaar and in all the houses, rows and rows of burning lamps were being lit to celebrate, among other things, light overcoming darkness. In the school they were preparing for the party. Govinda lingered near the gatekeeper and watched the lane.

The people in the lane stood and looked on as men played drums. Worshippers brought bags of rice, milk and sweets for Krishna. A group of devotees burnt an effigy of the wicked, power-hungry demon Narakasura and the crowd cheered, danced, sang and clapped as evil went up in flames. Young girls with tinselled eyelashes paraded past the servants who strung garlands of multi-coloured streamers all over the school and on the walls out in the lane.