Fifteen Lanes (30 page)

The car moved off immediately but it was Kamathipura, and speed was impossible. We locked our doors, but Pran emerged from our house and chased after us. Within minutes he’d reached the car and was banging on the window. I was grateful to be sitting in between VJ and Grace, and I was more grateful still that Pran was alone. No one was coming to his aid, though I had no doubt Binti-Ma’am had to be out on the
street by now, though too fat and lazy to give chase. She was probably planning the beating she’d give me when I was dragged back to her.

Pran’s screaming and banging accompanied us to the end of our lane. At any moment, I was certain he’d smash through the glass. I think the taxi driver had the same concern. He kept leaning on his horn and shouting at Pran to stop. Had VJ not ordered him to keep moving, the driver would have got out of the car to fight Pran off. Finally, when we turned onto the main road, Pran had to give up after he was almost swiped by a speeding car.

I didn’t turn to look at him as we roared off. I felt no satisfaction. My small triumph over Pran seemed like nothing compared to my fear for those I’d left behind.

“Are you okay, Noor?” I asked. My heart was still racing.

She nodded but seemed strangely subdued.

“You’re still frightened.”

“I left them all. I left Shami.”

“You’ll see them again soon.” I tried to sound confident.

The roads got wider as we left the heart of Kamathipura, and I began to think through what to do next. I’d have to take her home, unless she went with VJ. He could smuggle her into his house more easily but I doubted she’d be very happy about it. I glanced at her. She was staring silently out the window. We were passing a collection of tarp-covered lean-tos under a bridge. Noor’s tension was palpable.

“Stop,” she said.

“Stop what?” I asked.

“Stop! Stop the car!” Clearly agitated, she barked something in Hindi directly to the driver.

He pulled off the road and she fumbled with the door handle.

“What’s wrong?” asked VJ.

“We must get Parvati.”

“Where’s Parvati?” I asked.

“There.” She pointed back to the settlement we just passed.

“It’s late, almost eleven o’clock. Is this a good time to be dropping in on her?” I didn’t add the fact that I was already unsure what the future held for Noor. The last thing we needed was Parvati as well. Miss Chanda had told us there were rescue homes for girls in danger of being trafficked but I wasn’t sure that applied to Parvati.

“You are right, it is too early,” said Noor.

“For what?” asked VJ.

“To help Parvati escape from Suresh. He will be awake. We must wait.”

“Who is Suresh?” I asked. “And why would Parvati need to sneak away from him?”

“He takes money from men to let them do things to Parvati. He is very dangerous. He has a knife.”

I jumped when someone tapped on the window but it was just an old man. I rolled down the window and gave him a ten-rupee note. It was dark under the bridge and it gave me the creeps. If there were potential murderers around, I wasn’t sure it was safe to hang out there. I was also starting to worry about what I’d say to my parents. It would be midnight soon. I needed to get home.

“Well, I guess we wait,” said VJ.

“Are you sure Parvati will leave with us?” I asked.

“She must.”

“Okay,” I said, wondering what fresh lie I could tell my parents to explain missing curfew by several hours.

I dialed Mom’s cell. She picked up on the third ring.

“Grace, Dad and I were just talking about you.”

Why didn’t that surprise me?

“Are you having a good time?”

“Fabulous!” I forced as much enthusiasm into my voice as I could muster. “In fact, VJ’s asked me to spend the night. We’re watching some of his dad’s old movies. They’ve got a full-size screening room. It’s so cool, Mom. You have to see it sometime. Can I stay, Mom, please?”

Noor raised an eyebrow.

There was a long pause and some whispering with my father. She could have saved herself the effort. I knew what they were saying. They wanted me home safely tucked into bed but were thrilled that I sounded so happy.

“Can you put VJ’s mom on the phone, sweetie?”

“Sure, Mom, no problem.”

“She wants to talk to your mom, VJ,” I said loudly, while giving Noor a pleading look.

She nodded and took the phone.

“Hello, it is very nice to speak with you,” said Noor in a mature voice that was not her own. I gaped at her.

I didn’t hear my mom’s response, though I probably could have guessed it.

“Of course,” responded Noor. “She is a good girl. I am so happy to have such a friend for VJ.” Then she listened for a while. I could practically feel my mother’s enthusiasm coming through the phone line.

“No, no,” Noor continued. “We are happy to have her to
stay with us. It is a great honor. Yes. Thank you. Good-bye.”

She handed the phone back to me without a word and looked out the window.

“I’m really sorry I made you lie for me.”

She turned to me with a small smile. “I understand. Sometimes I also do not tell my mother everything.”

I sighed in relief.

We waited three hours while the streets cleared and the neighborhood fell silent. The taxi driver reclined his seat and slept. VJ had promised him far more money than he’d make in several nights of driving, so he was good-natured about the change in plans. VJ did his best to distract us with stories of life in the film industry, often tinged with an underlying sadness, a lot of broken dreams and betrayals. Up till then I’d thought he dabbled in the industry to please his father, but his ability to go to the heart of a story made me rethink that. Perhaps he just needed to be behind the camera instead of in front of it.

Finally Noor deemed it late enough to go looking for Parvati.

“Everyone will be sleeping now,” said Noor. “Many boys are using heroin and they are drinking. Once they sleep, they do not easily wake.”

We got out of the car and approached the squatter settlement. Lights from the bridge overhead provided enough illumination to see that many people didn’t even have the luxury of a lean-to covered with plastic tarp. Whole families slept right on the pavement, their few worldly goods bundled around them.

We picked our way carefully between bodies and the tent-like structures. Even this late, the heat was oppressive. The windowless polyethylene homes must have been stifling. Noor
stopped and put a finger to her lips. A few steps on she raised her hand. VJ and I stopped while she went a little farther on her own, rounding a lean-to, so we could see only the top of her. She crouched and disappeared.

She was gone for what felt like a long time, though it was probably not more than ten minutes. Finally she reappeared and came round the front of the lean-to. I felt weak with relief to see Parvati behind her. I could see why Noor was concerned for her. Her hair was a straggly mess and her clothes dirty and disheveled. It was the look in her eyes that was most disturbing though. She looked hunted, like an animal that’s been chased to the point where it has lost all hope of survival.

She nodded to us but didn’t speak. I think she had no words for the torture she’d endured. She fell in step behind us as we walked to the edge of the camp. We were almost on the point of leaving when she stopped, though I didn’t notice at first. Noor touched me on the shoulder and I turned to find Parvati standing stock-still, as if she didn’t dare take the last step to freedom. Noor walked back to her and took her hand, murmuring in a soothing tone. Parvati shook her head. She leaned close and whispered something to Noor, turned around and wove her way back the way she’d come.

Noor came to stand beside us. “She is coming. She forgot something. I told her to leave it but she said it is important.”

VJ and I exchanged looks. Every second we delayed increased the chances someone would wake up and confront us. In fact, I was certain I’d seen movement in the shadowy interior of a nearby lean-to. Any minute now I expected someone to raise the alarm.

We waited almost twenty minutes. Twice I suggested going
back to look for Parvati but Noor was resolute that we must wait. I was just on the point of going after her myself when we saw movement from the direction of Suresh’s lean-to. Sure enough, Parvati came into view. She was running as quickly as possible in the crowded space, leaping over debris and dodging shelters. It was more than her energy level that was different.

“Is that blood?” I whispered to VJ.

“I don’t think it’s tomato sauce.”

As she came closer the smell of it wafted off her. She paused again at the edge of the encampment, where she’d stopped before. Her final look around was one of triumph and satisfaction. Blood was spattered on her kurta and smeared on her face. There were specks of it on her trousers and sandals. In one hand a knife glinted in the lamplight. Blood dripped from its tip.

“I want we are leaving now,” she said.

“Well, all right, then,” said VJ, approaching her carefully. He held out his hand. “Shall I just hold on to that for you?”

She looked at it as if seeing it for the first time. “I think I must be throwing.”

“That sounds like a wonderful plan.” VJ still held out his hand. She placed the knife in it, careful to hand him the hilt.

Noor took Parvati’s arm and gently led her to the car. VJ and I followed at a distance.

“What are we going to do?” I asked in a low voice.

“You heard the lady. We throw it away.”

“It’s evidence.”

“Of what? I didn’t see anyone commit a crime. Did you?”

“You know what she must have done.”

“The only thing I know is that she was gang-raped and tortured and the guy we’ve left behind was responsible for that.”

We reached the car. Noor and Parvati were already inside.

“It’s not right, VJ. Vigilante justice is not the solution.”

“Maybe not, but I’m not going to turn her in. Are you?”

We made the trip home in a fraction of the time it had taken us to reach Kamathipura. The streets were virtually empty. We decided we’d all go to VJ’s house. He lived in a mansion on the seafront, and the guard was in the employ of his family and wouldn’t jeopardize his job by telling stories of a bloodstained girl arriving in the early hours of the morning.

VJ brought clean clothes for Parvati to change into. I suspected he got them from a maid. They looked too modest to be his mother’s. Noor and I both went into the bathroom to help Parvati clean up.

We were all exhausted from the evening’s events. VJ had offered us separate bedrooms but the three of us flopped down together on a king-size bed. As tired as I was, I lay awake for a long time wondering what the morning would bring.

Unexpected poetry …

I wasn’t sure what woke me. When I sat up, Parvati was coming out of the bathroom. Her hair was brushed and neatly braided. She wore the clothes Vijender had given her the previous night. She nodded toward the hallway. I got up and followed her.

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

“You know I must.”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll find a job, work as a maid or clean the streets. I’ll do anything.” She considered her words. “Anything but
that
.”

“Vijender’s family is rich. They could help you.”

“What have I told you, Noor? Foreigners and films stars—you can’t trust them.”

“But they rescued us.”

“And I’m grateful, but I’ve looked after myself for as long as I can remember. I’m not going to put my life in the hands of strangers now, when I have everything to lose.”

“Suresh is dead, then? You’re sure of it?”

“There’s no doubt.” She gave a cheerless smile.

“You’ll need money. I don’t have much but I—”

“I don’t need money.” She pulled a wad of bloodstained cash out of her pocket. “This will get me to the other side of the country. I’ve heard Calcutta is a good place to disappear.”

“Was that his?”

“It was mine. I earned it.”

“You must take your phone.” I tried to hand it to her, but she wouldn’t take that either.