A Son Of The Circus (105 page)

Farrokh saw the elephant-footed boy in his singlet with the blue-green sequins – as the little beggar was never dressed in real life. Farrokh saw Ganesh descending in the spotlight, twirling down – the cripple’s teeth clamped tightly on the dental trapeze. This was the completion of another successful Skywalk, which in reality had never happened and never would. The
real
cripple was dead; it was only in the retired screenwriter’s mind that Ganesh was a skywalker. Probably the movie would never be made. Yet, in his mind’s eye, Farrokh saw the elephant boy walk without a limp across the sky. To Dr Daruwalla, this existed; it was as real as the India the doctor thought he’d left behind. Now he saw that he was destined to see Bombay again. Farrokh knew there was no escaping Maharashtra, which was no circus.

That was when he knew he was going back – again and again, he would keep returning. It was India that kept bringing him back; this time, the dwarfs would have nothing to do with it. Farrokh knew this as distinctly as he could hear the applause for the sky-walker. Dr Daruwalla heard them clapping as the elephant boy descended on the dental trapeze; the doctor could hear them cheering for the cripple.

Julia, who’d stopped the car and was waiting for her distracted husband, honked the horn. But Dr Daruwalla didn’t hear her. Farrokh was listening to the applause – he was still at the circus.