Sher Singh always had a good look at himself in the mirror before taking off his uniform. He examined his profile from both sides and then gave himself a steady stare to study the effect it could have on other people. At these moments he Was reminded of newsreels showing busty Russian women soldiers marching fifty abreast through Moscow’s Red square on May Day parades. The crash of bands, the deep-throated chorus, and, above all, the command to salute, gave him a tingling sensation along his spine. If no one was looking, he would stretch his hand sideways and like Hitler clutch his belt with his left hand. Thereafter he looked at himself again in the mirror as each garment came off.

Champak was already in bed waiting for him, so he could not go through the saluting ceremony. However, the Russian troops in the Red Square started a sequence of thought. ‘You know what these bastard Communists want to do now?’

‘What?’

‘They want our peasants to fight the Japanese army. They say we must help Russia to win the war.’

The statement did not register on Champak whose notions of politics and geography were somewhat hazy. She gave a non-committal answer: ‘Funny, isn’t it?’

‘It’s not funny at all; it’s serious. For the Communists, one day it is an imperialist war, the next day it becomes the People’s War. One day they call the Muslim League a tool of British imperialism, the next they describe it as the only true representative of the Muslims. One day they decry the demand for Pakistan, the next day they support it. They say what Moscow tells them to say. It is always Russia this and Russia that. They never think of India. I will teach them a lesson one day. Mv S.V.C. will knock the hell out of them.’

‘Incidentally, you have a great admirer.’

Admirers always interested Sher Singh. ‘Oh! and who would admire me?’

‘Your dear sister’s friend, Madan.’

Sher Singh felt a little uneasy. He recalled Beena’s going to the pictures with Madan and his sister on New Year’s Day and her keeping quiet about it. He was not sure if it meant anything, but it made him uneasy. ‘What did he say?’

‘He said you were sure to become the Chief Minister one day.’

Sher Singh laughed. The cinema episode could not have meant anything since Sita had also gone with them and Madan was married. But why had she kept it a secret?

‘And he said he was going to get his friends to vote for you in the Union election. He said you were sure to win.’

‘Madan is a first-rate chap. We have got to know each other recently but I know he is one of those to whom loyalty to friends comes above everything else. Don’t you think so?’

‘I have only met him once. You should ask your dear sister. I think she will agree with you. The way she goes on, “Bhraji this and Bhraji that”, I think she is a little gone on him.’