A warm wind rustled the Peepal tree, slightly burdened with immature pigeons that were still learning to fly. Govinda and Nitesh peered up and watched as crows swooped down on the helpless squabs. They threw stones at the crows but the crows were not going to stop annoying the pigeons. Eventually they walked up Serpent Lane, away from the entrance to the school compound, past the café, and further along past the bicycle repair shop to see the artisans busily working on the idols, as they prepared for the festival period. Govinda enjoyed this time of the year as the city prepared for Dol Purnima, the spring season when celebrants spray coloured water on each other and have bhang, a drink laced with marijuana. When they reached the main road, they stood and watched people drag themselves about their business. Govinda looked at the cinema, where a film, Disco Dancer featuring the daring dance moves of the Bengali playboy, Mithun Chakraborthy, had been showing non-stop for eighteen months. He looked at the traffic and the restaurants. The main road frightened him. He spun around and walked down the lane again. Nitesh silently followed.

Govinda was happiest when roaming Serpent Lane where he could race back and forth, playing tops and marbles, buy sweets and exchange kites. He’d look out for bandicoots and holy men. Occasionally, he would watch the men build pundals and make deities. On the main road, time moved at a different pace from Serpent Lane. There were banks, video parlours and restaurants, but the narrow lane outside the school gate had a particular charm. Govinda thought the lane was a wonder like the big-top circus as they walked past palmists, acrobats, snake charmers, goat-sellers and astrologers.

Expecting the hot, sour scent of old urine as they passed the school wall, they held their nostrils shut. They passed a dilapidated fruit and vegetable market that never seemed to close. The air was full of dust as well as the scent of marigold, jasmine, coriander, ginger and onions. Green bananas and cabbage leaves were scattered over Serpent Lane amidst the constant smell of rotting vegetables and sewage. Among the purple brinjals, pink and brown onions and red tomatoes, the dogs pawed and fought – feeding off the scraps they found all over the lane. Fat rats feasted on the garbage that was heaped in piles on the pavement. Bearded cripples, their faces contorted with the agony of movement, crawled in the gutter begging for alms. There were kite-sellers and paint-peddlers with pyramids of brightly-coloured powders laid out in rows. A line of oxcarts was always parked on the side of the road. Babus with paunches casually strode along the pavement. Women were wrapped in sarees of pink, gold and green. All were buying paint in preparation for Dol Purnima.