2

Prof. Gupta understood me perfectly well. However, he was what English-speaking people would call an ‘uptight prick’. He asked Piyush to translate what I had said.

  ‘That’s a good reason,’ Prof. Pereira said once Piyush was done. ‘But now you are in Delhi. If you pass out of Stephen’s, you will get jobs in big companies. Will you go back to your native place?’ His concern seemed genuine.

  It took me a few seconds to understand his question. Piyush offered to translate but I gestured for him not to.

  ‘I will, sir,’ I finally replied. I didn’t give a reason. I didn’t feel the need to tell them I would go back because my mother was alone there. I didn’t say we were from the royal family of Dumraon. Even though there was nothing royal about us any more, we belonged there. And, of course, I didn’t mention the fact that I couldn’t stand any of the people I had met in this city so far.

  ‘We’ll ask you something about Bihar then?’ Prof. Fernandez said.

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘What’s the population of Bihar?’

  ‘Ten crores.’

  ‘Who runs the government in Bihar?’

  ‘Right now it’s Lalu Prasad’s party.’

  ‘And which party is that?’

  ‘RJD—Rashtriya Janata Dal.’

  The questions kept coming, and after a while I couldn’t keep track of who was asking what. While I understood their English, I couldn’t answer in complete sentences. Hence, I gave the shortest answers possible. But one question had me stumped.

  ‘Why is Bihar so backward?’ Prof. Gupta said.

  I didn’t know the answer, forget saying it in English. Piyush tried to speak on my behalf. ‘Sir, that’s a question nobody can really answer.’

  But Prof. Gupta raised a hand. ‘You said your mother runs a rural school. You should know Bihar.’

  I kept quiet.

  ‘It’s okay. Answer in Hindi,’ Prof. Pereira said.

  ‘Backward compared to what, sir?’ I said in Hindi, looking at Prof. Gupta.

  ‘Compared to the rest of India.’

  ‘India is pretty backward,’ I said. ‘One of the poorest nations in the world.’

  ‘Sure. But why is Bihar the poorest of the poor?’

  ‘Bad government,’ Piyush said, almost as a reflex. Prof. Gupta kept his eyes on me.

  ‘It’s mostly rural, sir,’ I said. ‘People don’t have any exposure to modernity and hold on to backward values. There’s poor education. Nobody invests in my state. The government is in bed with criminals and together they exploit the state and its people.’

  Prof. Pereira translated my answer for Prof. Gupta. He nodded as he heard it. ‘Your answers are sensible, but your English is terrible,’ he said.

  ‘Would you rather take a sensible student, or someone who speaks a foreign language well?’

  My defiance stumped them all. Prof. Fernandez wiped his glasses as he spoke, turning his head towards me. ‘English is no longer a foreign language, Mr Jha. It’s a global language. I suggest you learn it.’

  ‘That’s why I’m here, sir,’ I said.

  My answers came from the heart but I didn’t know if they had any effect on the professors. The interview was over. They asked me to leave the room.

  I stood in the corridor, figuring out 

where to go next. Piyush came out of the committee room. His lean and fit frame made him look like a student, despite him being much older. He spoke to me in Hindi.

  ‘Your sports trial is in one hour. See me on the basketball court.’

  ‘Sir, is there even a point? That interview went horribly.’

  ‘You couldn’t learn some English, along with basketball?’

  ‘Nobody speaks it in our area.’ I paused and added, ‘Sir.’

  He patted my back. ‘Get out of Bihar mode, son. Anyway, sports quota trials are worth 85 per cent. Play well.’

  ‘I’ll do my best, sir.’

  2

  If she weren’t tall I wouldn’t have noticed her. It is funny how her height shaped my life.

  If she had been four inches shorter, my eyes may never have met hers and everything would have been different. If I had not been bored and arrived at the basketball court an hour earlier, it would have been different. If someone had not missed a pass and the ball had not come out of the court and hit me on the head, I would have had a different life. Tiny bumps in time shape our lives, even though we spend hours trying to make long-term plans. I had no plan to meet the love of my life on a basketball court. I was there only to kill time and because I had nowhere else to go.

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