She anxiously scanned the row of waiting faces in the arrivals lounge and, the anticipatory smile on her lips fluttering, felt her eyes begin to smart. The fear that had lurked unacknowledged in her subconscious during the flight now leapt into her mind like a bolting horse: Nav was not there to receive her. Roshni paused, blinking back tears, and then, yielding to the pressure from behind, self-consciously trundled her heaped cart past the small groups of relatives and friends who were effusively greeting the other passengers arriving from Bombay and Ahmedabad. Roshni came to a hesitant stop and stood at a short distance from them. She felt intimidated by the vast hall in which she found herself and by the crush of people bustling purposefully on all sides. Nav would expect to find her here: that is, if he turned up at all. An Air India stewardess flashed her a smile of recognition, and checking her brisk passage stopped to ask, ‘Everything all right?’ Roshni nodded, touched by her concern.
