Sahil didn’t mince his words – he reminded her that despite all the chasing he had done, in the end it was her choice to work with him. Once the offer was accepted, he said, there were no excuses. It was now her duty to put her heart and soul into the project. Deep down, Sahil knew Meera wasn’t ready. He could feel that something was holding her back. Meera stood in silence. Outside her hut, in the air that reeked of drying fish, he could hear music play. Unable to go to work in the surging seawater, some fishermen had gathered at the square to while away the hours with drinks and music. The boisterous Koli songs were reverberating through the village walls.

‘Come with me,’ Sahil ordered her as he started towards the square. His lieutenant and Meera followed meekly. Before they knew it, he stood dead center in the midst of the singing party, grabbing somebody’s harmonium.

In 1942, as the Japanese overran Burma and reached the borders of India, the people of Calcutta started evacuating the city. That was good news for Sahil, who was passing migrant to the city with not much cash to his name, struggling to find a decent place to live in. Calcutta, one of the most populous cities of the British Empire, had begun to look desolated. Wealthy landlords were happy to hand over their keys to tenants who were willing to stay put and take care of their properties. Malik found a place for an incredible rate and lived there like a king – till the bombs dropped.

Mitsubishi Ki-21s pounded parts of the cities, shattering buildings into smithereens. Sahil would rush to the terrace to watch the British fighter planes light up the sky like shooting stars. On rare occasions, they would catch a Japanese plane and an explosion would fill up the horizon. Calcutta was blacked out, from sunset to sunrise. Sahil hung out with a group of musicians – together, they would step out with their instruments, singing and playing music to lift people’s spirits, and forage for food. They played in neighbourhoods where zamindar’s houses had collapsed into heaps of rubble; they walked through streets full of haunted-looking people who had not slept in days; they played for anybody who cared to listen.