Devaki left the scene as easily as she had entered, and they decided to see each other again a few days later. And it was there, in that rickety coffee shop in Connaught Place, called Madras Coffee House, where Karno said to her that they should get to know each other better. It was Karno who had picked their meeting place this time. She had never been there before and curiously fixed her gaze towards one of the damp walls with its plaster tearing off; a characteristic feature of most decrepit Delhi buildings. The high ceilings made every sound echo.

“Have you ever seen someone drown, Karno?” she suddenly asked.

It was the strangest thing anyone had ever asked him. A close second would be that time Murli, his dearest friend in school, had asked him in the eighth standard if he had ever e

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