A particularly brutal-looking, bare-chested man waved them down at a checkpoint. Ashok pulled over to the pavement beside a row of shuttered shops and let the car idle. The man’s eyes were full of hate as he looked in the windows. He motioned to a group of drunken tribals who were standing nearby, holding an array of weapons. A mob came with cans of oil, petrol, matches and firing rods. At his signal they surrounded the car. Govinda heard someone call out for hangings, day in and day out, to restore India’s pride. A bottle crashed nearby, jangling his frayed nerves. He found it hard to breathe. One wrong movement, he felt, and he would flake into dust.

The engine died. Sunil Seth got out and attempted to appease the angry mob, begging them to allow his family through, as they had to get to a funeral in another state. He told them that love is preferable to hate.

Govinda knew that if he were a Sikh the door would already have been pulled open.

‘Faithful followers of Gandhi, my wife’s father has died of a heart attack on hearing about the assassination,’ he told them. Sunil Seth’s voice rose and silenced all the others. ‘Certainly we love this country. We are brothers and sisters of Mother India. Sure we were betrayed but we are greater than this. Looking back, we beat the English. We sent them packing. My family like your family made sacrifices. Against Pakistan we fought wars. Now in the memory of each of those sacrifices I implore you to let us pass. If being a Hindu means picking up arms I am not a Hindu. If being a Sikh means killing our beloved Prime Minister I am not a Sikh. If being a Muslim means attacking my countryman I am not a Muslim. If being a Christian means being like the British I am not that. I am a teacher. I am a learner. I am a man of peace. Let me through.’

The whistle of flying Molotov cocktails and the clanging bells of burning trams accompanied the headmaster’s speech until the mob released him.

Govinda heard the bombs and vehicles exploding, as well as the crowd calling for blood outside, ‘khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’. He glanced up and saw a bear dancing and burning at the same time.

As they drove on Sunil Seth asked Ashok if he had any cassettes in the car. Stunned, Ashok replied that he did. The headmaster suggested a popular Hindi movie soundtrack and Ashok cranked it up to the maximum volume.

‘I feel relieved,’ Gitanjali finally said. Her husband told her he loved her.

‘Do you really?’ asked his wife.