The Dust Will Never Settle (16 page)

Ruby, relieved that the conversation had steered away from dangerous territory, changed the subject. ‘How did the two of you meet?’

A slow smile lit up Ravinder’s face. ‘It started as one of those regular evenings,’ he began, now hardly aware of his solitary audience. ‘I was coming back from college and decided to go to a pub with some friends. We came out after a couple of beers and were strolling down the street when we heard a loud scream.’

Rehana was walking a couple of steps behind her aunt Zahira – more to avoid conversation than anything else, an arrangement which suited the aunt as well since she had yet to figure out a way to handle the high-strung Rehana.

Two muggers erupted out of an alley and faced Zahira and Rehana. One of them slashed the air menacingly with his knife.

‘Give me your money, bitch!’ he hissed.

The second one gave Zahira a hard shove, dropping her on the pavement, then threw himself on her and bit her gold ear bobs off. Zahira screamed as blood spurted out. The mugger went for her other ear when a volley of shouts rang out.

‘Hey! What’s going on here?’

They turned to see three young men rushing towards them. The muggers fled, vanishing into the gloom.

Moments later, a patrol car pulled up near the women.

‘We need to get you to a hospital, ma’am,’ the cop said after one look at Zahira’s torn off ear lobe.

He was helping her to the patrol car when Rehana noticed one of the rescuers. In his twenties, he was dressed in jeans and a light wool jacket that set off his broad shoulders and contrasted with his navy blue turban. He was staring at her as though struck by lightning. Flustered, she gave him a brief, grateful smile.

That was all it took.

Ravinder gave a happy, mellow laugh. ‘She was standing there with flushed cheeks and long, lush hair blown all over her face, still breathless and shaken. Then she looked at me and smiled.’

Ruby smiled. ‘How can I explain to you what Rehana was like in those days, Ruby?’ He gave her a long look. ‘She was just like you. The same smile… just the same…one look and I was a goner.’ He laughed again. Ruby could not help laughing with him.

‘I am Ravinder,’ he introduced himself to Rehana at the hospital. ‘Ravinder Singh Gill,’ he said in clean, pristine Queen’s English, a hallmark of those educated in top-notch Indian public schools. His gaze was fixed on Rehana, as if looking away would be unthinkable.

‘Rehana,’ she replied, taking his proffered hand. Ravinder held it, and kept holding it.

She gave him a sharp look, which softened into an amused glance as she realized it was an innocent gesture. The adoring look Ravinder bestowed upon her was starting to unsettle her, but in a good way. Rehana realized that she liked it.

‘My hand,’ Rehana pointed out softly with a smile.

He let go with an embarrassed start. ‘I did not…’ Then he ran out of words. After a few false starts he repeated, ‘I am Ravinder Singh Gill.’

‘Yes, you told me.’ She smiled back, mischievously now. ‘I am Rehana.’

‘Rehana,’ he repeated. ‘It is a lovely name. I like it.’ He blushed. ‘What does it mean?’

‘You should know. You’re an Indian.’

‘How did you know?’ Even as the words left his mouth, he realized it was a stupid question and he turned even redder.

Rehana smiled, giving his turban a pointed look. ‘You guys are everywhere.’

‘Yes.’ He laughed. ‘I guess we do get around.’

‘And how. I don’t think the Brits had any idea when they quit India that you guys planned to follow them home… and take their jobs.’

This time they both laughed. ‘So… what does Rehana mean?’

‘It means a handful of sweet basil.’

‘Basil? Hmm… I like basil.’

‘Do you now?’ She gave him a mischievous smile.

Of course Rehana did not know it then, but in the days to come, he would do everything he could to woo her.

Rehana loved it. For once there was a person who had no agenda but to pivot his existence around her. The next few weeks were full of walks in the park, trips to the theatre, lunches and dinners and soon, stolen kisses and long, fevered embraces. He swept her off her feet.

Anyone who met Ravinder in those days would have found it hard to believe that just a while back he had been a dedicated and hardworking law student. His parents, who had sent their firstborn to London with heavy hearts, would have been aghast.

But Ravinder and Rehana didn’t care. Their world was perfect. Even the London weather was behaving itself.

To Rehana’s uncle’s annoyance and her aunt’s confusion, Ravinder became a fixture in their lives. They were irritated by the unabashed attention he was giving to their niece. That he was not Muslim bothered them, but not too much. And that he was a well brought up young man from a family of means did not escape their attention either. The sudden change in Rehana baffled them. Usually withdrawn, sullen and taciturn, she was now cheerful and constantly smiling. Zahira was blown away to find her helping with the housework and being pleasant about it too.

But the uncle worried. At his wit’s end, he threw the ball at her brother Yusuf in Ramallah.

Yusuf ’s decision came hard and fast. ‘There is no way in hell you are going to continue seeing him!’ he screamed at Rehana on the phone.

He should have known better. Rehana was as stubborn as he was.

When Ravinder’s parents came to know, their reaction was equally predictable.

‘She is not Sikh?’ His grandmother, who held sway over family matters, raised an aristocratic eyebrow. Despite her age, it took a brave man to stand up to her. That one raised eyebrow and her cold, derisive smile were generally enough to send people scooting for cover.

‘She is Arab,’ Ravinder’s father, the head of a small princedom in India’s northern state of Punjab, who had just spent an hour reciting the sordid tale, reiterated patiently. ‘From Palestine.’

‘A Muslim?’ Ravinder’s mother, whose hot Punjabi blood would often surge past the wall of royal snobbery, wrung her hands in despair. ‘How could he do this to us? What will people say?’

An expression of disgust crossed his grandmother’s face. That was about as far as she would go to respond to her daughter-in-law’s plebian display of emotion.

‘Maybe he is just sowing some wild oats.’ The grandmother sounded more hopeful than convinced.

But they were all shocked when they learned that Ravinder was not just sowing wild oats, he was planting royal seeds as well.

‘I think it was the resistance from both families that decided things for us. Now, don’t get me wrong, Ruby. We did love each other. I am – was – madly in love with her. For me the sun rose when she did and set when she slept.’

Ravinder could clearly remember the day their relationship had moved to the next level. He was walking up to her house when he saw her returning from the other end of the street. There was a Dalmatian pup on the leash with her, a friendly looking thing.

‘Cute dog. I didn’t know you had one,’ he said as she came up.

‘It’s my aunt’s… so I guess he is kind of like my cousin.’ Rehana grinned. ‘She just got him.’

‘Does he bite?’ Ravinder leaned forward to pick up the pup.

‘I doubt it. Loves attention too much.’

‘Does his cousin bite?’ Now this was not the usual Ravinder. Today, with his spirits fortified by two large whiskies, he was feeling daring.

‘She might.’ Rehana giggled. ‘Guess you will just have to find out.’

And they did – that very evening. And the cousin did bite. Deliciously.

Ruby noticed a soft expression on her father’s face.

Could it be that even now he was still in love…
The thought was uncomfortable. Ruby pushed it away. That would rock the foundation of her mission.
Unthinkable.
Ruby reminded herself of her mission, of what her mother had said to her everyday –
you will be the one to avenge us…. To avenge all these years of injustice we Palestinians have suffered.

‘You see, the family resistance simply crystallized things.’ Unaware of her turmoil, Ravinder continued, ‘We ran away to Birmingham and got married.’

‘Why Birmingham of all places?’

‘I had friends and relatives there.’ He gave a sheepish smile. ‘You see, when I told my parents I was going to marry Rehana, they cut me off. I was just a student, so money was a bit of a challenge.’