‘But I don’t understand why you’ve planned to travel at night.’ ‘That’s when it’s cool. We’ll have to bear the intense heat at Ajanta and Ellora in any case. If we also have to travel all that way in the heat, any head except an idiot’s will ache,’ answered Aritra. Neelam had been sitting quietly for a long time. Esha was in the kitchen. The aroma of chicken in the pot. Seema and Aritra were absorbed in their argument with Bikram. Ari wanted Bikram to try getting tickets, or else hire a Land Rover. Bikram insisted on following the bus in his own car. Neelam felt as though she was visiting someone else’s house. Someone she knew only slightly. The stiffness had not been dispelled. She was unable to match her enthusiasm to theirs. She was surrounded by an arc of extreme loneliness. There would soon be a time when no one would be able to enter this magic circle, and she would not be able to escape it either. She felt choked. Pupu parked her scooter and came up then. She had been to a friend’s place early in the morning.
