Finding Arun (35 page)

He found him in the next room standing amongst a
group of gentlemen that he didn’t recognise, the village’s elder
women incessantly fussing over them, insisting that they drink more
chai. He wasn’t sure what to say and he wasn’t even sure that
Prakash would remember him, but he knew that he would not be able
to face Lucky and Hanara again until he had at least attempted to
fight their cause.

‘Excuse me, Mr Solanki?’ he said, approaching the
group and hovering nervously by Prakash’s side.

‘Yes?’

‘I don’t know if you remember me? We met on the
plane a few months back?’

Prakash turned his back on the group of gentlemen
and, when he studied Arun’s face, a slow look of recognition
started to spread across his own.

‘Yes, yes, A –?’

‘Arun, sir,’ he finished, extending his hand by way
of a more formal greeting.

‘Arun. That’s it! I almost didn’t recognise you –
all that hair,’ he said jovially, accepting Arun’s palm with one
hand and pointing to the unruly mop perched atop his head with the
other.

Arun ran his free hand through his uncombed hair
self-consciously, trying to shape it into something a little less
unprofessional in appearance.

‘What are you doing all the way down here?’

‘This is where my family live,’ he answered,
catching sight of Hanara and Lucky entering the room out of the
corner of his eye.

‘Oh yes, very good. A bit of a long trip though
isn’t it? Have you been here the whole time? That flight was quite
some time ago if my memory serves me correctly.’

‘Yes, I have. We, um … had a lot of catching up to
do.’

‘I take it that your family lives in the village?
How are they feeling about the move?’

‘They, um, they’re okay,’ he answered, trying to
choose his words carefully, ‘but my brother is a little upset about
a few things.’

‘Is it the mandir? I thought that I was going to be
lynched the way that they all reacted when I said it would be moved
during phase two!’

‘No, actually it’s a little bit more personal than
that.’

‘Oh?’

‘He’s a rickshaw driver in the city. The move will
mean that he has twice as far to travel each day. He’s concerned
about the time it will take and also that the extra fuel costs will
reduce his earnings.’

Prakash seemed to consider this for a moment and
appeared to be struggling with how to respond.

‘Between you and I, Arun,’ he began, lowering his
voice conspiratorially, ‘that’s why they’re locating the new
airport in the village.’

‘I don’t understand; what do you mean?’

Prakash glanced around anxiously and lowered his
voice even further before continuing.

‘Think about it, Arun. If there is already an empty
plot of land, why not just build the airport there instead of going
through all this fuss and uprooting villages and whatnot? The plot
is pretty perfect from a construction perspective, but the
government decided that two hours was not an acceptable time for
the commute between the airport and the city. It already takes that
long to travel in from Bhubaneswar on the train so there would be
no advantage to building the airport.’

Arun felt an anger bubbling up inside his chest at
the realisation that Lucky was right; the government’s priorities
had nothing to do with its people and everything to do with
money.

‘Why not just look for another plot of land then?
There must be somewhere else that’s suitable and not too far from
Puri? Somewhere that doesn’t involve having to relocate an entire
village?’

‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but unfortunately the
searches didn’t turn up any other viable sites,’ answered Prakash
regretfully.

‘Couldn’t you try searching one last time? Just in
case there is somewhere that you didn’t spot the first time round?’
pleaded Arun, desperately.

He could feel the weight of Lucky’s gaze upon him
and he didn’t want to return without having anything positive to
say.

‘There isn’t anywhere else Arun, trust me. These
searches are very comprehensive.’

‘
But what if there
is
somewhere and you’ve missed it?’ he whined, feeling his
opportunity rapidly slip away.

‘Arun, believe me, if there was any other option,
I’d be the first one pushing for it. I don’t like seeing these
villagers kicked out of their homes any more than you do and
frankly, constructing another settlement before we can even get
started on the airport is a headache that I don’t really need. But
it is, what it is.’

Arun sighed dejectedly and nodded his head in
defeat. He thanked Prakash for his time and skulked back to where
Lucky and Hanara stood, eagerly awaiting the outcome of his
conversation.

‘Well?’ they asked in unison.

‘You were right,’ mumbled Arun bitterly, ‘it seems
the government really do just care about themselves.’

‘And your friend?’ asked Hanara, her eyes still wide
with hope.

‘He sympathised with you, but there isn’t anything
that he can do.’

‘Figures,’ muttered Lucky under his breath.

Hanara’s face fell and Arun sensed that he had
fallen slightly from the pedestal upon which she had placed
him.

‘Can we go home now please? I’m exhausted, the day
has been really long,’ yawned Hanara.

‘Why not?’ quipped Lucky, swiftly moving towards the
exit. ‘It’s not like standing around here talking about it is going
to change anything anyhow.’

ANOTHER week rolled by until only one week remained
before Arun was due to fly back to England. It had taken some
getting used to, for all of them, but he had made his peace with
what he had to do and was trying his best to think positively. He
felt encouraged to view the return as the start of a very promising
medical career, rather than the end of his time in India. It was
this career that had been his lifelong ambition and, if successful,
it was this career that would ultimately enable him to return to
India to be with his siblings and Chandni when the time was right.
There was little for Arun to do by way of preparation for his
departure – he had left with one bag and would return with the same
– but since his arrival in the village, at the back of his mind
there had always been one place that he felt he ought to visit
again before leaving.

The monsoon rains were more or less over and one
sunny morning, leaving Hanara to mind the shop, Arun travelled into
Puri with Lucky and asked to be dropped off outside of the Mayfair
Beach Resort Hotel. He was unsurprised to find his concierge buddy
on duty and, greeting him with a huge warm smile, he politely
requested that a taxi was summoned for him. Within ten minutes he
was zipping along the main road once more and when they passed
beyond the city limits and ascended the gentle incline, the verdant
beauty of the bushy trees and gleaming rice paddies was enough to
transport Arun back to his first visit to Rachna Hari. How
different it had been then, speeding along on the back of Manoj’s
motorcycle, hurtling towards a great unknown in a time when he had
dared to hope, to dream and to wish. He couldn’t have predicted
that it would be the start of such a wonderful journey and the
point beyond which his life would be forever transformed and
enriched.

When they reached the top of the hill, the large
white colonial house dazzled in the midday sun and, after
remunerating the driver, Arun stepped out of the car into the
cooling breeze. The security guard regarded him with suspicion,
failing to recognise his face beneath the tangled mop that framed
it, but he seemed to relax somewhat when Arun politely explained
that he was there to see Manoj. He scurried into the house leaving
Arun to bask in the warmth of the sun and when he returned a few
minutes later, looking decidedly more amiable, he eased back the
heavy metal gate and allowed Arun to enter the grounds. Manoj stood
waiting for him expectantly on the steps leading up to the house
and threw his arms open in a gesture of welcome at the sight of
him.

‘Arun, what a lovely surprise. I would have assumed
that you had returned to England by now.’

‘Hello Manoj, how have you been?’

‘Very well. Do come through,’ he said, shaking
Arun’s hand and motioning for him to proceed into the building.

They walked leisurely through the grand house, the
hallways cool, dark and silent, until they emerged onto the terrace
at the back with the spectacular view of the city. Seating
themselves on the plastic garden furniture as before, Manoj
summoned the same young girl who had served them during Arun’s
first visit and she obediently fetched two fresh lime sodas for
them from the kitchen. They sipped their drinks gratefully in the
sunshine and it wasn’t long before Manoj was enquiring about the
outcome of Arun’s search for Kalpana. Taking a deep breath, Arun
began to recount in detail his experiences from the past few months
and he was surprised by just how much he had done.

Manoj listened closely while Arun described his
initial meeting with Lucky and Hanara, and explained how he had
learned of Mata-ji’s death six weeks before his arrival. He
recalled with fondness the early adventures with Lucky and how
Hanara’s rejection and resentment had slowly turned to love,
acceptance and even a rakhi. He omitted the true details
surrounding his adoption, concerned that Catherine and Mata-ji’s
agreement might in some way incriminate Rachna Hari because of the
refuge’s involvement in their introduction, and he spoke instead of
working in the shop by day, attending the mandir by night, and of
finally belonging to a community, whose lives were now on the verge
of disruption. He delighted in tales of the crowds at Rath Yatra
and of the more intimate encounters with Chandni that had caused
him to fall in love, despite Rajubhai Joshi’s ban on their
courtship. And he reminisced; he reminisced about his short-lived
plan to attend medical college in Mumbai, before Arthur had
delivered the selfish ultimatum that was now forcing him to return
home.

‘It sounds like you have had quite an adventure,’
mused Manoj, when Arun finally ceased talking.

‘It has been quite eventful, yes,’ concluded Arun,
sipping his lime soda.

‘I’m terribly sorry to hear of your mother’s passing
too; I know how much you were looking forward to meeting her.’

‘Thanks, Manoj, that’s very kind of you. It was a
shock, of course, but you know, strangely I can’t help feeling that
perhaps I was never supposed to meet her. I can’t imagine how
things would have turned out and being reunited with Lucky and
Hanara, and meeting Chandni, well it’s been … enough. Maybe they’re
the real reason that I had to come, even if I didn’t know it at the
time.’

‘I know what you mean; life can be strange like that
sometimes. Imagine if we too hadn’t met that day? You know it was
purely by chance that I was there; I hadn’t been back to the old
refuge building since the last items were moved here. You’d
probably still be wandering aimlessly around that desolate town;
no-one ever goes there anymore, it’s completely empty.’

Arun started to violently cough and splutter as the
sip of lime soda that he had just taken travelled halfway down his
throat before beginning to resurface in his haste to speak. Manoj
patted him hard on the back trying to calm his swells, but he waved
him away, fighting desperately to regain his breath so that he
could speak.

‘Around the old refuge,’ he croaked painfully, ‘are
you certain that no-one lives or works there anymore?’

‘Positive, why?’

‘Who owns the buildings?’ he continued, ignoring
Manoj’s question.

‘Well we still own the refuge building, but I think
most of the others have simply been abandoned. Why?’ he pressed,
growing increasingly curious as he tried to decipher the wild look
in Arun’s eyes.

‘Manoj, do you need the old refuge building? Would
you be prepared to sell it?’

‘I’d love to sell it, but no-one will buy in that
neighbourhood now. People don’t even want the properties that they
already own.’

‘The airport, Manoj!’ cried Arun over-excitedly.
‘What if they were to build the airport in the town where the old
refuge is?’

The short man looked at him and smiled benignly.

‘It’s a nice idea, Arun, but I doubt that things are
as simple as that.’

‘Why not? The area is big enough and it’s just as
close to Puri as the village is. Best of all, there is no-one
living there that needs to be moved elsewhere; it’s the perfect
solution,’ Arun exclaimed, mildly irritated by Manoj’s lack of
enthusiasm for the idea.

‘I quite agree with you, but I can’t see the
government agreeing to it, especially after the effort that it
sounds like they have already put into securing your village.’

Arun sighed exasperatedly and regarded Manoj with a
serious, business-like face.

‘If I can get them to agree to it, will you agree to
sell?’

‘Of course I will, Arun, but how do you propose to
go about getting them to agree to such a drastic change so late in
the proceedings?’

‘I have absolutely no idea, but there must be a way
… I need to talk to Rajubhai Joshi, urgently,’ he concluded.

Eager to present his idea to Rajubhai Joshi, the
afternoon passed by far too slowly for Arun’s liking, but he could
not return to the village until Lucky’s day was over and with no
means of contacting his brother, he had no choice except to wait it
out. When the sun began to set over the city, Manoj kindly gave him
a ride on his motorcycle back to the Mayfair Beach Resort Hotel,
where he had arranged to meet Lucky at five o’clock. True to form,
it was gone six o’clock by the time Lucky actually arrived, but as
soon as Arun divulged the details of his masterful plan, a very
enthusiastic Lucky sped back towards the village with fervour.