That put her somewhere around the five-foot mark, about as tall as Karuna and Prameela were. But whereas the other two were frail and thin-boned, Kamala sported wide shoulders and sturdy bones. Watching her, he thought, one got the impression she meant business. She looked slightly taken aback at the appearance of Hamid Pasha fussing over her, but she managed to show him to a chair and joined her hands in greeting when she saw Nagarajan. Nagarajan returned the gesture. ‘Please sit down,’ she said. Her voice bore a roughness that no doubt gave people the feeling that she was dominating them even when she meant no such thing. One of Nagarajan’s grandmothers had been like that. Why, even now, though the lady present had probably nothing but welcome in her heart, Nagarajan heard a chilly tone of animosity ripple underneath her voice. Whether it was really there or not Nagarajan could not decide. She started the proceedings, as she was probably used to doing. ‘I saw you speaking to my husband earlier,’ she said.
