THE IMMIGRANT Read Free Page A

life in a brutal autocratic state she would marry him tomorrow. All around them countries like Burma, Pakistan, North Korea, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, were showing the way to totalitarian regimes, with their repressive measures and violation of human rights. What was so special about this country that would enable them to escape the fate reserved for so many of their neighbours?
    Coming, we are coming, wait for us, our millions will soon join you.
    Forty five minutes later, as Nina was urging her mother to get up and leave, they heard the sound of a car drawing up next to the house, seconds later its door slamming. ‘Namaste, namaste,’ twittered a thin, grey-moustached, bespectacled man, deputy secretary, Ministry of Education. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting, unexpected meeting. Sit, sit, I have heard so much about your husband.’
    The government servant cum astrologer quickly settled down to business. He asked the date of birth, name, added numbers, calculated the planet configuration at the moment Nina was born. He divined enough details of their past to establish even Nina’s unwilling confidence.
    Now, he claimed, the fifteen year bad period in their lives was coming to an end. The unfortunate arrangement of stars that had governed their destinies was slowly giving over to a more favourable combination. Things were going to change, change quite drastically, he added frowning.
    ‘Marriage?’ suggested the mother.
    The civil servant peered at the charts. ‘Late,’ he declared.
    It didn’t take a genius to predict that, thought Nina. At thirty it was late by anyone’s standards.
    Marriage would take place this year or the next, went on the astrologer. Journeys were involved, the signs were good for prosperity and happiness. And till where had Nina studied?
    ‘MA,’ said the mother.
    ‘Things are not easy if you are educated, the mind needs companionship, the search becomes longer.’
    Nina scowled. The man should stick to his stars instead of making ridiculous pronouncements.
    ‘And Miranda House you said? Good, very good.’
    By now the mother was in a state of deep excitement and Nina in a state of deep suspicion.
    Well, at least she has been given enough sustenance to make this birthday less traumatic, thought Nina while the mother clutched her hand on the way back, as though she were already leaving for a new home.
    ii
    Far away, on the eastern seaboard of Canada, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a young man stood at the window of his clinic and gazed at the trees lining the sidewalk. It was summer; the air was mild, the sun shining for a change. His long time friend and partner had just walked home to his wife, child and lunch.
    Eight years earlier, Ananda had been a practising dentist in small town Dehradun. Unlike many of his friends he had never dreamt of leaving India. His ambitions were simple. He wanted to make enough money to look after his parents and repay them for the time, love and hope they had invested in him.
    But these exemplary aspirations were not destined to be realised.
    His parents had been middle class professionals, on the lower scale of things. His mother taught at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, his father was a minor functionary at the Forest Institute. They had two children. The daughter studied at her mother’s school, and for her BA went to Miranda House, Delhi University. Her lack of academic brilliance was compensated by the genius she exhibited in choosing her partner. The boy had actually been to Doon School with Sanjay Gandhi! Now he was in the IAS, UP cadre. Success was bound to crown your career when you could claim some connection with The Family.
    The umbrella of this marriage would cast its shade over the young brother as well. At all times the parents were keenly aware of the potential calamities that could befall their children and a son-in-law added to their sense of security.
    Ananda was going to be a doctor. The father spent hours