cabin crew to please be seated for landing. Then the time came.
Good bye Ragini.
Good bye Eliot.
When Eliot washed his hands in the airport restroom he tried to imagine what Ragini’s husband would look like and about what caused two people to fall in love.
12.
Now the task in front of Eliot was to get to the hotel, the hotel that he had booked on line two days ago. He chose it because it was close to the airport. There were very few people about, more cleaners than travellers. A glance at his mobile phone told him that it had adjusted the time, it was half an hour after midnight in Kolkata. He saw Ragini on the far side of the carousel, still with Rifka in her arms standing beside a tall man, younger than Eliot would have thought. They waved to each other across the space of the carousel. Her husband attracted Ragini’s attention and she turned away so Eliot grabbed a trolley and waited for his large backpack and red rolling case. She watched Eliot disappear into the custom’s hall
No one in customs was interested in him; the woman at immigration briefly suspended her conversation with a workmate and down came the stamp on his visa, permission to work in India for three months. In the foyer the cleaners looked at him without expression and then they went back to their job. No one wanted to get him a taxi, no one suggested a cheap hotel or a particular sim for his mobile phone. The day was over. The ATM caused him no trouble. He put the rupees into his wallet and stepped through the automatic doors out onto the pick-up area. It was almost deserted. A wave of apprehension passed through him as he took in the sounds and smells. He knew that this moment would happen, he had even thought that he knew what it would be like when it came and he wasn’t wrong. There was no one to squeeze his arm, to say don’t be silly Eliot, relax and enjoy the moment. No second opinion. The heat of the night was overwhelming. A siren squealed in the distance and Eliot thought of Special.
He could not see a taxi. One bus idled on the causeway and then a black billow of smoke rose from the exhaust as it lumbered away. Eliot stood on the footpath beside his trolley loaded with his red rolling case and his large green backpack. The few people around had their own pick-up. Across the road, the car park disappeared into darkness save for a few places where murky light was thrown by a streetlight. In this near deserted car park, through the haze, he saw a taxi in the distance so he pushed his trolley towards it. Closer, he saw that it had only three tyres and one wheel was supported by a stack of bricks.
He heard the wail of a siren again, the police or an ambulance, and he felt a little anxious and all of a sudden aware of how tired he was. He felt his toe throbbing and looked down at Carol’s dressing which was already discoloured. His head said that he was in a strange and almost deserted place where something might go wrong even though it usually didn’t. Warren The Worry Wart and little Ahli and his snotty nose and what he would have given for Ragini to appear through the haze, her hand outstretched towards him saying here, come with me Eliot. She was at his side and she said that there was no need for a taxi, he must come and spend the night with her and her family. He could spend as long as he liked and read Ahli books and play golf with her husband.
The car park was not the place to be, he just wanted his room and his bed so he could rest before the light of the day .The light of day. He felt sure that it would change everything for the better. He just needed a taxi. He took his hotel booking sheet from his small backpack and in that moment of uncertainty he got lucky as if someone had tuned into his feelings and felt sorry for him and they had decided to solve his problem as if this was proof that he had been born under a lucky star.
Out of nowhere, two men came towards him in a half run and in the next moment they were upon him. They were Pintu and Ravi. As each of them put their hands on one of his pieces of luggage he noticed immediately that they were strangely alike, both short and wiry, both with discreet narrow moustaches, both in yellow short sleeved shirts, so that when Eliot looked at them he had to re-establish their particular identity again. Later, it came to him that Ravi’s head was quite a lot bigger than Pintu’s and confusing them was no longer a problem. They both stood grinning at Eliot, as if something funny had been said. The one that was Pintu spoke.
Hullo Sir, we are here to drive you wherever you wish Sir. I am taking your bags sir.
Wait!
No. In this place and at this time of the morning he had to accept their offer. What was he going to say to them? Thank you but I think that I will wait around for a better offer just to be sure I am not being ripped off? Still, he didn’t know whether to be relieved or concerned and then he thought that in just a few moments he could be in his hotel room close to the airport and he would turn on the air conditioner and lie back on the bed and stare at the ceiling for a while and maybe then he would channel surf for a few minutes while he thought about the hot shower that he was about to have and which would help him sleep so well.
But there were questions to ask. Yes sir our taxi is a pre-paid taxi but the pre- paid counter is closed and yes the taxi has a metre. Bags in hand and Eliot in tow they scurried towards an underground car park at the end of the pick- up area as if their taxi was about to leave without them. In the car park the taxi looked like it was on its last legs but Eliot jumped into the back seat as Ravi pushed his backpack and red rolling case in beside him from the other door.
This boot, it is jamming.
Pintu jumped in behind the wheel and Ravi beside him and the engine roared into life. From the back seat of the battered yellow taxi, Eliot could see that the meter didn’t work and that this probably had been the case for some time. As they drove off Pintu and Ravi turned their faces to the back seat.
Welcome to Kolkata. My name is Pintu and my friend here is Ravi. Where is it you would like to go?
Nice to meet you both.
He would normally have introduced himself but he had the booking sheet in his hand and it was a more pressing matter.
Emperor Residency Hotel, Salt Lake City, Block B6 Kolkata. It says it is close to the airport.
Ravi took the booking sheet from his grasp and looked at it in the light of his mobile phone. Pintu looked too but no note of recognition passed over their faces. They both looked at Eliot and then there was a short conversation.
Āpa isa hōṭala kōjānatēhaiṁKō'ī
MaiṁRavi pūchēṅgē.
It seemed that they wereboth concentrating very deeply in the silence as they drove out through the airport gate and into the murky light of the almost deserted streets. Pintu lit a cigarette as he drove and Ravi lounged against the passenger door, his right arm draped along the bench seat so that he could take a quick glance at Eliot whenever he wanted. He glanced at Eliot again and lit a cigarette too and let it hang out of his mouth and he held up his mobile phone in one hand while he looked at the booking sheet with a blank look on his face. After a moment’s consideration he spoke.
We are not knowing this hotel, we are thinking that we know much bigger and better hotel and close. This one it has a swimming pool and free Wi Fi. Best you stay there! Maybe you are in your room in ten minutes.
I have already paid for a room at the Emperor Residency.
Eliot heard himself, terse, and he was surprised at the fragility in his voice and Ravi looked at Eliot in a curious way as if he was trying to work out what he should do with this Westerner in the back seat of his taxi but he turned his face towards the direction that they were travelling and seemed to accept the outcome and then he made a phone call on his mobile.
The
