Stories Of Young Love (3 page)

Dr Raleigh
stirred. “Daddy, you don’t appear to be in a mind to do much today.
Shall I ask the mali to lay a cot for you here,” Eileen asked,
smiling.

“No, Eli, I think
it is a beautiful day for a picnic. It has been very long since you
and I went out together, child.” He turned around and looked for
Raju, and not seeing him called aloud. The boy hastily opened the
car door and stumbled out. He jogged towards Dr Raleigh and
salaamed. “Sahib?” he said keeping his eyes pointedly on the
doctor.

“Raju, do you know
the way to the Qutub?” said Dr Raleigh. “Sahib,” Raju nodded
assent. “Good, do you think you could drive us there?” “Ji,
sahib.”

Eileen got up and
although he was not looking at her, Raju sensed he would be in her
way. So he skipped aside, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the
doctor. He waited to be dismissed, but the doctor was now in a
happy frame of mind. He asked Raju about his father, and whether he
needed anything, then he told him to bring him along next morning
for a check-up. Raju stood punctuating his remarks with reverential
“sahibs” and “ji, sahibs”, but his ears pricked up at the slightest
sound that seemed like the door opening.

At last, Eileen
came out and Raju retreated. “Aw, daddy,” she said in a reproachful
tone, “aren’t we going then? I just told Rani to pack sandwiches.”
“Dr Raleigh hauled himself out of the chair, stretched and yawned,
and then after patting her curls gently walked back towards the
house. “I need exactly five minutes, Eli; meanwhile you get
everything ready. Tell Raju to warm the motor.”

His last words
rang in Eileen’s ears. “Tell Raju to warm the motor.” That was an
opening. But she couldn’t bring herself to say his name aloud. She
hesitated for a moment and then walked towards the car where he was
leaning against the driver’s door. “Raahjoo,” she said slurring the
name softly, tentatively, as if it were new and unfamiliar. He came
to attention but stood looking at the ground before him. “Please
get the car started. Daddy will be here in a moment.”

She didn’t go away
but watched him bend and crank the engine. He was aware of her gaze
and cranked awkwardly, becoming embarrassed as the car refused to
come to life. Another time, before another girl—one from his own
sphere—he would have shown off, but now he was acutely aware of his
inferior position, and also a strong animal attraction that he told
himself could not be mutual.

Eileen sensed his
discomfiture and said, “How you’ve grown, Raju! You never visit us
with your father”. It made his ears tingle with pleasure. He
attacked the crank again and the 747cc engine roared to life. He
was beaming as he slid into the cabin but he still dared not look
up at her. Eileen walked up the driveway primly and waited for her
father who, true to his promise, came out in a light suit within
minutes. “Ready to go, Eli? Is the hamper packed?”

“I’ll get it,
daddy, wait for me in the car,” she said and went running towards
the kitchen. Raju saw her this time. The smooth white fists jutting
out of jacket sleeves and the grey skirt bouncing and revealing
inches of white, taut thighs. Eileen was gone a few minutes but
when she returned bearing the picnic hamper she wasn’t smiling. She
stood in the door and called out to Dr Raleigh. “Call for you,
daddy.”

It turned out to
be a patient’s call, and Dr Raleigh decided his Qutub visit would
have to wait. But he told Eileen to go on. “Drop me at Mrs Smith’s,
and then make the trip. It would be a shame to waste this wonderful
day, eh, Eli?”

She demurred but
briefly. And then the red Austin entered the street.

***

Dr Raleigh got
off at Mrs Smith’s and Raju drove off with Eileen waving to her
father from the backseat. After a few turns, once she was certain
that the car was out of her father’s earshot, Eileen asked Raju to
stop. “I’ll have a much better view from the front seat,” she said.
Gone was the uncertain and distant note from her voice. She even
smiled at Raju to put him at ease. But the rookie driver seemed
flustered after this. He could hardly get the gears to engage
without making frightful gnashing sounds. He drove slowly, but went
over potholes too fast, making the little car bounce dangerously.
He was all nerves when passing vehicles—luckily, there weren’t
many—and gave them a wide berth, even if it meant driving on the
muddy shoulder.

Outside New Delhi
the road was mostly a mud track and clouds of dust swirled in
through the open window every time Raju made a defensive manoeuvre.
But Eileen seemed to be enjoying his discomfiture with a sense of
power. She hummed to herself and a smile played on her lips. “How
long have you been driving, Raju?” she asked turning her eyes upon
him. He felt hot under the direct gaze from so close and mumbled a
reply. Then judging it disrespectful, he repeated the answer
slowly, carefully. “Six months, madam, but not regularly.”

“You are a good
driver,” she lied, and he coloured up, but relaxed. He still drove
very carefully but was more confident. “What’s that?” said Eileen,
as they drove past a big fort-like construction on level ground.
“It’s the mosque of Begumpuri,” said Raju, and then rashly
ventured: “People here say jinns made it in a night.” He regretted
it immediately because she burst out laughing.

“I am sorry, I
shouldn’t have laughed. I am sure your beliefs are well founded,
Raju.” He didn’t care for the other words but the ‘Raju’ at the end
satisfied him. “It is not my belief, madam,” he said, “I am
Hindu”.

“Of course,” said
Eileen, “I forgot. You told me about Ram and Sita when we were
children.” Raju swelled with pride, and love. Madam, memsahib,
Eileen, a white woman, Peter sahib’s beloved had not forgotten
him.

The ruins of the
Qutub and a dozen surrounding buildings were before them. They were
on the dusty Gurgaon road that skirted the minar at its very base,
but now it was being moved away. A few sahibs and many local men
and women were at work amid the buildings. People said the sarkar
was building a fort around the minar and the other ruins. The road
would be set back.

“Stop, stop, Raju,
so that I can see the minar without craning my neck,” said Eileen,
“Isn’t it majestic? This is certainly the work of jinns. How big it
is! I wish I could see the city from its top”.

“There are stairs
inside, madam,” Raju said eagerly. He was seeing the minar after
many years and had the same thought on his mind. “But it is a very
long climb.”

“Oh, I don’t
mind,” said Eileen, and instead of driving up to one of the grassy
‘follies’ in the grounds around, Raju drove the car to the minar’s
very doorstep. Dark women in tattered saris stopped levelling the
earth and looked up in surprise as a young, white woman alighted
from the red car accompanied only by her Indian chauffeur.

***

The day had
become very warm and Eileen dropped her jacket inside the car. She
had teamed a tight, cream blouse with her straight grey skirt and
Raju’s head swam at the sight of her white, sculpted shoulders. The
bonnet was hot but he rested a hand on it and looked away to steady
his mind.

“Will we be gone
long, Raju?” said Eileen. He shrugged uncertainly. “Madam is not
used to climbing so many stairs,” he said, “it is very tiring and
should be done slowly.”

She nodded and
then asked him to carry the hamper upstairs. “We can eat at the
top, if the crows let us,” she said, and then, jovially, “you won’t
lose your caste for eating with a white woman, will you, Raju?” He
shook his head shyly and they entered the tower. It was dark
inside, so he led and she kept close behind him.

The steps were
narrow and spiralled up. Thick shafts of light pierced the outer
wall where a stone’s space had been left empty but the darkness
swallowed them before they could illumine the old and rough
masonry. The steps were high and uneven. Eileen kept one hand on
the wall and leaned forward to balance. She was soon sweating, and
breathless. “How far up do you think we are come now?” she said,
pausing to catch her breath. “We haven’t made it to the first
landing, madam,” he said, looking worried, “and there are four to
the top.” Then he quickly added, “But the first is the tallest,
each storey is shorter than the one before it. So, I guess we must
be a third of the way up.”

Eileen held her
sides and breathed deeply a few times. Then they continued their
climb again. “See, madam, there is light on the walls above,” Raju
encouraged her, “we must be getting close to the first balcony with
the large door”. But it was a few minutes before they stood at the
door, feeling the breeze and admiring the view. For Raju, it had
been easy leading the way, but now, standing close to Eileen in
that narrow space he became tongue-tied. He fought to keep his eyes
off her blouse, her legs and most of all, her eyes. He felt certain
he would fall to death if she came any closer.

“Let’s go, madam,
there are altogether 400 steps,” he mumbled and took the lead
again.

The break had
refreshed Eileen. She talked to him now. “How’s your father, Raju?”
“Better, madam, sahib is mending him”. “Have you been looking for a
job?” “Once father resumes driving for sahib, I will, madam”. “He
wants you to marry, he talks about it all the time to daddy.” “Does
he, madam?”. “Are you in love, Raju?” “No, madam,” he replied
hastily and blushed, but it was all right since Eileen could not
see him in the dark. “Did you finish school?” “No, madam, but I
passed class 8 this year, and father says it’s enough for a
driver’s son”. “Is your heart set on becoming a driver, Raju?” “No,
madam, but I want father to be happy”.

Eileen shrieked
and nearly fell. A bat had brushed past her hair. Alarmed, Raju
rested the hamper on a step and suggested they turn back. “It’s all
the same to the top, madam. Stairs and more stairs, you will only
tire yourself out for nothing.” Eileen wasn’t listening. She
pressed her back against the wall and sat down. “What was it?” she
said, reaching out and grasping his right hand firmly. A million
lights exploded in Raju’s mind. He thought he would swoon and fall.
His heart thudded in his chest and his lips moved soundlessly in
reply. He felt the wall with his left hand and slowly lowered
himself two steps, to sit down one step below her.

“A bat, madam,” he
tried forming the words again, carefully. Eileen laughed
hysterically. “A bat, hahaha, only a bat!” Then she sat quietly for
a minute, still clutching his hand. “Do you like me, Raju?”

He didn’t
understand her question. “Madam?” “Do you like me, Raju?” The
question tripped off her tongue lightly the second time. She was
teasing him now, playing with him. He was putty in her hands, and
she kneaded his right with her left. “Ye-es, madam,” he said, but
to pare down his guilt, he added, “you are very kind”. He was in a
panic now. The words had been spoken, sahib’s wrath would fall on
his family.

Eileen played with
Raju’s limp hand for some more time and then rested it on the step
beside her gently, as though it were a kitten. He didn’t have the
courage to even draw it away. “I am not afraid of bats now, Raju,
and we will go to the top,” she said and stood up decisively. Raju
felt relief and elation at this turn of events. He picked up the
hamper and they started the ascent again. The view from the second
balcony was even better, and Eileen linked her hand with his. As he
stiffened, she squeezed his fingers between hers and all power to
reason or resist went out of him.

“Let’s eat now and
leave the hamper here for later,” Eileen said. She wolfed down her
sandwiches and he ate his timidly, casting furtive glances at her
face. Her shoulders, and legs didn’t matter to him now. He was
smitten with her, hopelessly, fatally infatuated, an ardent
worshipper.

“Have you ever
made love, Raju?” He choked on his bread and she patted his back,
made him drink water from her own canteen. “Or kissed?” He shook
his head, turning white now. “Do you want to, now?” Raju froze.
Saying ‘yes’ was not an option, neither was ‘no’. His mind raced
for a way to gratify without offending. Only, he didn’t know what
would be considered an offence now in the seclusion of the minar,
and later, when they returned to their usual places in society. “I
don’t know what to say, madam,” he said sheepishly. “Then don’t,
silly boy,” she said running a painted thumbnail lightly over his
lips. Raju felt all power drain from his limbs and gather someplace
else that he dared not look at himself, and hoped Eileen wouldn’t
notice. But she did and laughed merrily staring at it. Tears welled
into Raju’s eyes. He was confused. Then she drew him towards
herself and embraced him gently, like a protective mother. And
though this confused him even more, he felt his strength return. He
searched for the truth in her eyes, but she closed them and planted
a kiss on his lips.

“Come, my hero, we
haven’t all day to make love, do we?” And as he got up she patted
his rump, something she had been meaning to do all morning. “I am
tired, Raju, are you up to carrying me to the top?” “Yes, madam,”
he said doubtfully. And she hugged him again, breathing, “my
darling boy” into his ear. She kicked off her shoes and handed them
to him. “They will dig where they shouldn’t,” she said laughing,
and even he smiled dizzily. “Come then.”

***

She rode on his
back, cheek pressed against his, shoulders bunched around his neck,
and arms crossed over his chest. Her bare legs wrapped around his
middle. Raju climbed in a haze. He found his footing without
seeing. His heart pounded in his ears and he was aware that she
felt it with her hand and heard it with her ears. The softness that
dug into his back was a new sensation that he yearned for, but she
mastered it by slowly, regularly running her fingertips above his
heart. Her powerful scent mingled with a salty odour of sweat
overpowered his senses, and whatever will he had left was
subjugated by the tender goading of her heels.