Читать книгу Lucky You - John Duke - Страница 16

It was Carol’s first day at work, she had slept well in her new room in the nurses dormitory adjacent to the hospital, exhausted from the travel. The office girl, Fitri had just put a meal of Mie Goreng wrapped in brown paper on her desk. Carol was a little nervous because after morning break, in ten minutes, she would have a meeting with her boss Faraan and she knew that then she would better understand the challenges in front of her. Fitri stared across the office at her and smiled a smile of expectation. You like this food she said, not too spicy? Carol knew that she would have to get to like Sumatran food.

As Carol sat across the desk from Faran, when the new day was beginning to warm in Kolkata, Eliot absorbed the light and the smells like he had with Marion in Siliguri and Darjeeling years before and he was excited. He left his bed and put on his lungi and opened the curtains and the double glass doors that opened onto his balcony and the warmth felt friendly. A dog lay curled up in the middle of the road below and the chapati cart went around the dog and an old man on a push bike went around the dog, and the motorbike carrying four boys without helmets too and the dog didn’t move. He was in India. Across the road two women in colourful saris sat squatting beside each other hand washing some clothes in large metal basins and one looked up and noticed Eliot and waved with a smile and then the other and he waved back and he always knew that to acknowledge the existence of another human being who you didn’t know was a good thing.

He told himself that he had no time to waste. He wanted to get out in the street and enjoy the morning. He unplugged his mobile phone from the charger on the bedside table. There was at least an hour before he could expect Pintu and Ravi to arrive so there was plenty of time to do what he had to do. He quickly showered and dressed and then he remembered to put a new dressing on his toe. When his hair was up in his ponytail, he stuffed some rupee in a pocket, hid is backpack with his money belt under the bed and stepped out of his room

As he hit the footpath, the weight the dark of last night had disappeared. Now this world of little doubts, foreign and strange was gone. Special might say, maybe you could be desperately unlucky. Just when you leat expect it your luck might run out, your turn would come. But he had learnt from Marion. The challenges were not new. Pintu and Ravi were good people, he was almost sure of that. So he was sure that if he ran into trouble on a murky late night street corner in Kolkata there would be a solution to any problem that he faced if Pintu and Ravi were there.

He walked the streets of Salt Lake City which were now were friendly in the light of the day and he soaked up the atmosphere of this incredible country. As he walked he was reminded of some of the lessons of India, lessons that you are forced to reflect upon when you were there, because in India, your eyes become clamped on what you saw. The extraordinary sights. At the end of the first block he came across a public park enclosed by a heavy wrought iron fence that spoke of colonial times. On one side of the entrance were two men with street stalls, two low tables, one selling chai and the other roti and on the other side of the fence sitting in a line sat the wretched , the lepers, staring into nowhere with faces that said nothing except a story of pain. They sat without talking, the men in lunghis and bare topped and the women with their lehenga tucked up between their leg and some with a dupatta scarf loosely draped over their head, with their bandaged hands and feet protruding outwards to make them even more pitiful. One woman, with a baby at her breast pointed at the pewter bowl at her feet as he Eliot walked past but he had no coins and Special would have said that so many people go past the unfortunate in the street and find a reason for not putting their hand in their pocket. Like Eliot, they just give a slight wave of their hand.

He declined a chai and a roti and turned left through the gate and walked down the shaded path of the garden and in the shade men played dominoes and others stared into the distance and others slept on the wooden benches. At the far gate of the gardens he turned back toward the Emperor Residency and he hoped that he would come across what he needed.

People who shared the uneven footpath stared at him as he walked and on the road a cycle rickshaw was coming towards him. Squeezed up on the seat, protected by a canopy from the heat of the ever growing sun were three portly men and the old barefoot rickshaw wallah who had dismounted a long time ago was now pushing the bike slightly up hill on foot, back bent and head down and as he approached, the wallah glanced up and under his grey mop of hair his forehead was shiny with sweat and his eyes said something about India, something that made you wonder on this hot Kolkata morning and Special would say how can the unlucky be happy? How can they believe in God?

Then he spied what he was looking for. A barber’s shop. ANOKHA BARBER. He crossed the road. There were two chairs and an old man was lying back in one chair having the hairs of his nostrils removed. A number of men stared at the old man at the mercy of the barber as if this was a spectator sport. The other chair was empty.

Amil! Amil! Yes sir you must be sitting in this chair. Amil is coming.

Thank you.

It took a little bit of explaining past a little bit of misunderstanding and maybe disbelief but when Amil was sure, off it came. Eliot’s hair was now quite short all over, his ears and nostrils were trimmed and his head and shoulders were massaged and when Amil held up a mirror to the back of Eliot’s head it was certainly gone and everyone smiled. When he paid and got up from his chair there it was lying on the floor. He was almost sure that he liked what he saw in the mirror. The new beginning was confirmed. As he left the shop he felt that he was stepping out differently and that he was ready for the next part of his journey. Still, he wondered what Marion would have thought. She had liked his ponytail when he was young. Make the next part of your life special she had written.

Ravi had come out of the front gate of the Emperor Residency and spoke to Pintu who was squatting on the side of the road in the shade of a tree

No he is not there inside but the boss says that his luggage is still in the room. I am thinking that he must be walking around in the hot sun or maybe he has gone to find an ATM so that he has plenty of cash for us. You are very expensive Pintu aren’t you?

Pintu smiled on his cigarette. Ravi kicked off his sandals, opened the back door of the taxi and lay down on the back seat.

We will wait.

Eliot turned the corner and saw the Emperor Residency. He was glad to see that Pintu and Ravi had returned. Their yellow taxi was parked in front of the Hotel and it seemed even more battered in the light of day. Kolkata Taxi Service No. 36 in faded black letters on the bleached yellow duco. Pintu saw Eliot immediately and jumped up waving his cigarette at him and a wide smile spread across his face. In the light of the new day, they were wearing blue shirts and Ravi was asleep on the back seat his bare feet protruding from the open window. In the light of the new day it was hard to understand now, how he could have had doubts about these two men, thoughts that maybe they might have been up to no good in the mighty maze of this city, how they might have seen him in his shorts, pockets bulging with rupees, rupees that he would hardly miss when they relieved him of them.

Good morning gentlemen, you have arrived bright and early.

Maybe early Mr. Eliot but I am thinking not bright. It was very late when we delivered you to your unknown hotel, so late that we cannot have time to drive to our homes and comfort our wives and they are not happy because they need a little comfort and we stay outside the house of Mr. Baag who I must tell you is a crook who is always taking for himself the money we have earned from you. Hey you are losing your hair Mr Eliot.

Pintu and Ravi exchanged glances and flashed their teeth.

Yes I have…. I am sorry to hear about your night Pintu.

No you must not be worrying Mr. Eliot, we are tired but we are waking very happy on this morning Mr Eliot because we will be taking our Australian friend to the airport or any other place he choose to do before.

I don’t think that there will be enough time for a guided tour fellas. I don’t want to miss my plane to Varanasi do I?

Oh you will not be missing your plane, this is not a worry

Ok, I will go and get my luggage and be back down in a minute

Pintu helped put the luggage on one side of the back seat of the taxi and the three of them climbed in and the engine reluctantly turned over and started. As they pulled away from the curb, Pintu turned to the back seat.

You are smoking Mr.Eliot? No? Maybe you like to drink something strong?

Just a little early for me at the moment.

Oh no Mr. Eliot, it is never too early or too late for a strong drink. Sometimes life is very hard, sometime you worry about money, sometime your boss is taking it, sometime your wife is nagging you. This can happen at any time Mr. Eliot. Do you have a wife Mr. Eliot?

No, she passed away last year.

Oh, we are sorry to be hearing this …….. Last night after the police attacked us, Ravi and I had some Director’s Special. Very nice it was too and we are sleeping like babies

I hear what you are saying Pintu .

Today was Ravi’s day to drive, so Pintu was doing the lounging all over the bench seat but he always kept one eye on their passenger, maybe checking to see if he was happy so that they could be happy too. Always a cigarette in one hand and the mobile phone in the other. What was their serious discussion in Hindi about? He wondered whether it concerned him or perhaps whether it should concern him. As the Hindi words floated around inside the cab, he imagined that the scenario was that some planning was being done so that today some serious money could be made. Maybe last night was about softening him up, today they would make the killing. Then Pintu spoke again and Eliot smiled to himself.

Is it true that some people call your country the lucky country?

Yep they do.

So why are they speaking about your country like this?

Eliot thought for a moment and it was a question with many kinds of answers. He mouth widened and he grinned.

Well, there are lots of reasons. We are lucky because we have lots of coal and iron ore and uranium that we can sell to India for lots of money and then it becomes mostly your problem and sometimes we are lucky because we have a prime minister that doesn’t have a personality disorder and you are lucky if you are a big company in Australia because you don’t have to pay tax.

Hey Mr. Eliot you are having fun with Pintu and Ravi.

Yes, just pulling your leg as we say in Australia. We are lucky because we are free and democratic and rich and we have the best beaches in the world. But you are lucky in India too. You have the most beautiful women in the world in India.

You think so. You are telling us the truth?

Of course, you Indian men don’t know how lucky you are.

Oh! I am knowing how lucky I am. My wife is working hard every day looking after our family and if I am lucky we roll around in bed some nights and she has given me three children whose mouths have to be fed and their education paid for. .……. if it is a woman you are needing, young ,old, round or thin we can find this woman for you Mr. Eliot now that you are a single man if you are not worried about me saying this

No problem Pintu.

Yes he thought, he was a single man, no matter how you looked at it. Indian women are the most beautiful in the world! Life moved on didn’t it.

For a while they drove on in silence. They stopped at some traffic lights. Ravi said something to Pintu and they both turned to look at Eliot, one big head and one smaller head above their blue shirts and then they were both smiling. Eliot wondered what they saw through their Indian eyes, what their Indian brain thought when they looked at him. He tried to imagine what it must be like for Pintu and Ravi and to look at their passenger. He was pink? He had a big nose? He was lumpy but he didn’t have a ponytail. His toe had begun a weak throb. He would have to look after it as soon as he arrived in Madho Patti

Pintu turned his head to look at Eliot again and when he did it was a curious look and then he flashed him a teethy smile that might have meant anything. Now they crossed Keshtopur Canal and joined the VIP Road. The sign to the International Airport loomed overhead and Eliot relaxed and his warmth for Pintu and Ravi was growing.

Almost there. He would be able to sit back and have a coffee when he had checked in.

Pintu and Ravi both turned and smiled at Eliot again with their yellow nicotined teeth but Eliot was thinking outside of the moment and wondereding what Louise would be doing tomorrow, because tomorrow was Saturday. A walk and coffee and a film and more coffee and maybe some shopping. He thought of Eleanor, she would be in her garden plot on Saturday morning and he knew exactly how she would look, her overalls and knee pads and he saw her bright red smile under her auburn curls. Her green eyes. He surprised himself. He knew that she would spoil Elvie. Don’t worry master will be home in a couple of months. He will be so happy to see you. We mustn’t return you thin, must we? That’s what she would be saying.

Then Pintu rested his arm along the front seat and turned his face to the back seat again.

We are enjoying taking you around in Kolkata Mr. Eliot and seeing that bad things do not happen to you.I hope you will be returning to Kolkata sometime soon and if you do, you must come and stay with my family. These hotel people where you stayed last night, they are only wanting to make money off you. They don’t care about you really. They are only interested in themselves and they give India a bad name I am thinking. You stay with me and my wife who is making the best goat curry in all of India. You stay with us next time and we show you Kolkata, all of the sights, and if you need shopping or woman or hard drink. No problem.

Thank you Pintu, that would be very nice. I hope that I will come back to Kolkata one day and I would certainly come and visit you

On they drove, past the big yellow building aptly named The Daffodils Nursing Home, past the myriad of giant billboards advertising everything that you didn’t really need, past an army barracks where soldiers were parading and Eliot was thinking about another place and time in Addis Ababa and Mengistu. Ravi suddenly turned the taxi left off the main road onto the canal side road and then right into Fourth Cross Road which was jam packed with traffic; cars, motor bikes, and rickshaws and hundreds walking, slowly worming their way somewhere. Now they were barely moving. Pintu said something to Ravi and they both laughed.

Eliot felt a little uneasy, what had happened to the uneventful trip to the airport In Kolkata? You could get caught in a traffic jam and in Kolkata you could miss your plane and then the monkey in his head ran away with it and he didn’t have travel insurance when he missed the flight to Varanasi and what about Jalal. Yes Jalal would not be impressed, not with someone who didn’t turn up when he said he would. Maybe the whole thing would be called off because of his obvious imperfections, such as unreliability and incompetence. The words that Jalal would say where in his head and then he heard Marion’s voice, don’t be silly Eliot, by now you must know that you can trust Pintu and Ravi. Her words made him smile.

Hey fellas, this isn’t the way to the airport. I don’t want to be late for my flight and I haven’t checked in yet!

Don’t worry, Mr Eliot. Your flight is at 1.30pm. Plenty of time for catching the plane. We be only taking five minutes at most, we are just in need for buying something.

Pintu gave a giant smile. Eliot was thinking, who are you to decide what I do and when I do it? Who are you to decide how much time is plenty of time to get to the airport? I’m the person who is paying for the taxi. Then Marion would say, look Eliot, look at that amazing Hindu temple.

After crawling along Four Cross Road for at least five minutes Ravi pulled the taxi up outside a stall that sold many sorts of everyday things, from buckets to mobile phone credit and T shirts. Ravi handed Pintu some rupee notes, and he jumped out of the taxi, obviously saying something humourous as he did and then disappeared behind the plastic awning at the back of the stall. The advertising on the front of the stall was as busy as the street. On the awning was the message. PEDESTRIANS DON’T HAVE AIRBAGS.

We are only being a minute Mr. Eliot.

Where is Pintu going?

Ravi did not answer, instead he made a phone call. Pintu was probably picking something up for his wife, why couldn’t he do that on the way back from the airport? Just relax said Marion, there is no chance that you will miss the plane Eliot. He concentrated on the mass of people travelling with purpose in all directions but he was distracted because it was getting hot in the taxi and his shirt was becoming saturated. He was about to say something when Pintu’s smaller head reappeared and Eliot could see what kind of errand he had been on.

He was carrying three big long neck bottles of Kingfisher beer, tops still on. He had a wider grin on his face than even before. He looked like he had just made a century for India and wanted suitable acclamation. Eliot didn’t know what to say.

We are thinking that you are thirsty before your flight Mr Eliot. Kingfisher is top beer in the world Mr Eliot. Hey, eight percent and so soon you are thinking differently in your head and Kolkata is the best place for to be living. No you are our guest in Kolkata and you are not to be paying.

Well I would have to admit it fellas it’s the right weather for having a cold beer.

We were thinking this the same. Remember, any time is the best time for some strong drink.

Pintu produced a bottle opener from somewhere, removed the top and passed a bottle across the seat. Eliot accepted his bottle of Kingfisher with mixed feelings.The bottle was pleasantly cool in his hand on a morning that was becoming seriously hot.

It is very early for me to be starting drinking....but thank you.

The Kingfisher was wonderfully cold and the first mouthful went down well, but it was so hot in the taxi that Eliot felt the beer immediately drain from his pores. Within minutes the sweat rolled down his arms as he wiped his hands on his shorts. Pintu and Ravi talked with animation and good humour and he couldn’t help his feelings warming to them even more as he began to see the world a little differently and he smiled at himself and imagined losing his passport and misplacing his mobile phone because he got a little drunk. Mr. Serious Jalal and the principal whose name he couldn’t remember and the parents were all very disappointed but it appeared that Eliot had been drinking at the airport and somehow had missed his flight. I’m sorry, he said but the Australian teacher will not be coming to our school because he has a drinking problem. Very disappointing! Eliot chuckled to himself .

The beer has made you happy Mr. Eliot. You are liking this beer?

Yes thanks Pintu, its going down a treat. Tell me, are you allowed to drink alcohol and drive in India?

The government is saying no but when the police stop us we are just putting some rupees into the palms of their hands and the problem disappears, out of sight. India is number one corrupt country in the world.

I thought it was Indonesia.

Oh no Mr.Eliot, they are just beginning, not even coming close to us.

Ravi moved the taxi under the shade of the tree and they sucked away on their Kingfisher in silence and the heat was still almost unbearable and when their bottles were almost empty he realised why there was quiet in the front seat. Pintu and Ravi were showing signs of having a morning nap and then Pintu’s jaw hit his chest.

We need to get going to the airport now fellas, I really appreciate the Kingfisher, really generous of you. I will have happy memories of Kolkata.

Our pleasure Mr. Eliot.

So Ravi put his bottle between his legs and soon the engine sprang to life and they were on their way again, back to the main road and in quick time the airport arrows were popping up in the right place. Within ten minutes they were close to the airport.

So you are flying to Varanasi Mr. Eliot. You must be careful in Uttar Pradesh it’s not civilisation like here in Kolkata. Let me tell you the Hindus and Muslims do not like each other. I’m Hindu but I’m not getting angry and killing someone because they have eaten a cow. Yes the Muslims are being crazy, putting bombs on their bodies and they don’t like pork but that’s just how they are being.

Thank you for the advice Pintu. I will try to avoid this kind of conflict.

And I am telling you one more advice Mr.Eliot. In Uttar Pradesh you must keep your little man in your trousers or your friend will be getting in big trouble and maybe she will die.

Thank you again, but I’m getting a bit old for that kind of thing, so no problem there.

You will be doing what there Mr. Eliot?

I have a job as a teacher trainer in a small school in a village called Madho Patti.

I have never heard of this one.

No it’s very small, maybe a hundred people. There is a larger town nearby called Kajgaon and it’s about ten kilometres from Jaunpur.

Yes I am knowing Jaunpur. So you will be teaching which things? English?

Yes I will be working with two young women graduates who have studied English at Jaunpur University.

Ahh Mr. Eliot, remember my advice about your little man. Ha ha!

Very humourous Pintu.

They were now driving up the ramp to the drop off point and the taxi pushed through the congestion and soon they pulled up outside the domestic departure gates.

There you are Mr Eliot, we are getting you here in plenty of time and no need for rushing around for you now. We tell you this.

Yes, you have done very well Ravi. Thank you very much, I have been lucky to find you at the airport last night. You are number one taxi drivers.

Pintu and Ravi hauled Eliot’s large backpack and his red rolling case onto the sidewalk and then stood facing Eliot with their yellow teeth on display.

So, how much will that be then?

We are estimating the fare is 2000 rupee for our many services Eliot. We very reliable and protect you from no good taxi drivers and we come on time and you here early and because you are our Australian friend we buy you a big Kingfisher!

Eliot thought about the word estimate, and the word service and it was more than he had estimated but things were different now.

That sounds very reasonable to me.

Eliot counted out the rupees into Pintu’s hand and gave him an extra one hundred.

But you must promise me something you two. Don’t spend it all on beer and whiskey. Make sure that you buy your wife and children a present too. Thanks again for keeping me safe in Kolkata. I hope that we can meet again sometime. I will miss you two.

He wondered if age and the Kingfisher was making him sentimental. How had he got to feel this way about two Kolkata taxi drivers? But he had.

We hope so too. We are saving up our money and one day maybe we will come and stay with you and be lying on the beaches and be looking at your women in bikinis and drink Australian beer.

The word Australian triggered the thought of the bag of fluffy kangaroo key rings somewhere in his red rolling case that he had brought with him as little gifts for people in Madho Patti. What the heck he thought.

Pintu and Ravi, just a moment, I need to get something out of my case that I want to give you both. Tell me, how many children do you have?

I have three and Ravi has four Mr. Eliot. Our wives have been very good to us.

First, the keys to his case had to be found in his money belt. He dug past his passport and his flight booking and his Malaysian Ringgit and Australian dollars and there they were. He lay the red rolling, case on its side on the footpath, unlocked the padlock and unzipped it and after a quick rummage he drew out the cellophane bag full of fluffy kangaroo key rings and zipped it open.

Now let’s see, one, two, three..........seven. There we have it .One for each.

The faces of Pintu and Ravi said it all.

Our children are very lucky. Thank you very much. We hope one day that you will return to Kolkata and our children can be lucky to meet you. Well we must be going now Mr Eliot, we must be making more rupees to take home to our wives.

They both gave giant smiles from their larger and smaller head and both of them shook Eliot’s hand in their two hands and in a moment they were in their taxi and they drove away without looking back and he felt a strange feeling of being alone because the only people that he really knew in the whole of India, well except Jalal, had disappeared probably for ever. Well that’s the way it is, he was lucky. There were, he guessed, thousands of taxi drivers in Kolkata and he had come in the middle of the night and he had come across Pintu and Ravi.