light was thick and the headlights of the taxi were struggling. The street lights were diffused by dust and pollution like some kind of depressing theatre effect and in Eliot’s mind the very few men on the street looked listless and maybe up to no good. For a moment, a thought crossed his mind. What in the bloody hell am I doing here? Wasn’t it slightly absurd, he thought, that he was in a taxi on a stinking hot night in Kolkata after one o’clock in the morning with two men who he had never met before looking for a hotel that was supposed to be close to the airport which they had never heard of.
Still he knew what to tell himself. He told himself that in the morning, tonight would be nothing more than a little adventure , these kinds of traveller’s fears always were something to chuckle over when you returned. What would Marion say if she was sitting beside him now? Whatever it was would make the difference. Pintu and Ravi were having an animated conversation and when they stopped at a set of lights they turned their eyes on him again and smiled, a distracted, occupied smile that gave no clear message but left him feeling uncomfortable. He felt a need to say something.
How long have you two been driving taxis?
Oh for many years, maybe we are the most experienced taxi drivers in all of Kolkata, we know to go everywhere, we can take you anywhere and this trip is not going to break your wallet. You must be very careful of some taxi drivers. They are being crooks.
Eliot allowed himself a smile. Well then how come you don’t know where the Emperor Residency Hotel is, the well-known hotel that Agoda says is close to the airport.
Yes Indians are very good taxi drivers. In Australia, If you need a taxi driver you will get an Indian taxi driver for sure.
He looked at his two taxi drivers and they were in a Bollywood film. These two looked like a couple of villains who would leave you standing in your underpants on the side of the road. Each of them with their dark eyes in their different size heads, eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, one eye said we will cut your throat and leave you tonight without your wallet and passport. The other kinder eye said, sir, with a bit of conniving and exaggerated good will you may be the source of some handy rupees for us and our wives and our children and our relatives and our friends and God knows we need those rupees. Eliot smiled at the little drama in his head and thought how lucky it was that he wasn’t trying to get a taxi in King St at this hour where Special’s kind of, being in the wrong place at the wrong time bad luck was much more likely to happen.
Then he felt his weariness and the taxi turned and turned through the streets of Kolkata so that there seemed to be no single direction that he was travelling, nothing happened that would make him feel that he was not going around in circles, nothing was happening that would make him feel that he might be closer to his destination.
He thought of the night in Cairo years ago when he and Marion had hailed a taxi to go to the railway station and she said I think that I have seen the same building three time. They had to say something. But he didn’t get anxious then, in fact he sort of chuckled and smiling he told the taxi driver that he was a rogue and paid him half the fare that he had asked for when they finally arrived at the station. But that was thirty years ago and now he was alone. That was the difference. That was worlds ago and a lot of luck had flowed under the bridge since then. He tapped his pockets again and yes his wallet and passport were still there so he told himself to relax, sit back and take in the experience. The silence was broken.
What is your name Sir?
Eliot
They were stopped at another set of traffic lights and the silence was heavy but then Pintu was talking over his left shoulder.
We are very pleased to be meeting you Mr Eliot. We are being taxi drivers in Kolkata for a long time and we will be helping you when you are staying in our city. If you are happy then we be happy too Mr. Eliot.
Oh I am sure that is true Eliot said to himself. I will do my best to look happy all of the time, even when I’m tired and lost in Kolkata at almost two o’clock in the morning. Even when I don’t know whether to trust you two gentlemen. Then it occurred to him that the word Pintu could make everyone happy.
Do you know that Pintu in Bahasa Indonesian means door.
It was a good thing to say, the right thing at the right time because this piece of information got a better reaction than expected. As they all laughed he suddenly felt that the outcome of his little journey through the dark streets of Kolkata seemed much more likely to end with a positive outcome.
Yes, I am the door of Kolkata for you. Where are you coming from, Mr Eliot?
Australia.
Oh, Australia. We are liking this place very much and maybe one day we are being very lucky and rich enough to visit your country with our wives and children if our thieving boss he would be treating us properly.
Kangaroos , and Sydney and Michael Clarke! Pintu and Ravi were animated and laughing now and all of a sudden they were not Bollywood villains, but two hard working men family men with many children who had no ill intention towards him. In an instant they had become fellow human beings just getting through their long day trying to make a rupee. Every few moments Pintu took his eyes of the road so that he could smile at Eliot.
Now all that Eliot wished for was that Pintu would keep his eye on the road and find The Emperor Residency.
After a short silence Ravi made the pronouncement that the Australian cricket team was very good.
Yeh, not bad, but I think that if we played India today you would probably win.
Thank you Mr. Eliot. You are our Australian friend and if you are happy we are happy Mr. Eliot.
Thank you very much Ravi. Are we getting close to the hotel?
Oh yes, certainly we are just making a turn here and a turn there and soon you will be putting your head down on the pillow, won’t he Pintu?
As sure as Shane Warne was the greatest spin bowler in the world Mr. Eliot.
Everyone laughed and even if they weren’t any closer to the Emperor Residency Hotel it didn’t seem to matter quite so much for the moment. But that moment didn’t last for long. Pintu began to slow the taxi down and up ahead near a street lamp through the dust and pollution haze, in the middle of the road at a T intersection, they saw a group of men and as they got closer he could see these men more clearly, they were definitely intent on blocking their way. Eliot could feel it in his bones that this group of men spelt trouble.
What are these men doing Pintu?
You are not to be worrying Mr. Eliot, Pintu and Ravi are knowing how to be handling this situation.
Ok
The headlights slowly brought the men out of the murk and Eliot could see that they were dressed as police officers and this added to his apprehension. As the taxi came to a halt he saw that the police officers were in a loose huddle and each was holding a lathi-stick. Something didn’t look right. Pintu lit another cigarette
What are they doing?
There is nothing to worry about Mr. Eliot.
The taxi came to a stop about ten metres from the huddle and the group of police officers all stared at the taxi and so Pintu wound his window right down and rested his arm on the window sill and now the officers approached the taxi, six of them and Pintu could have reached out and touched the nearest one . One officer bent over and peered into
