‘As close as possible,’ she said when asked, in light of the history, how far she wanted the elevator from her office. Her office. She savoured the sacred flavour of the phrase and sensed the sanctity concealed there, like a consecration through the ages.
I could sense something that very day when I went to pick her up from the airport. I was standing in the arrival-lounge, and, as one rarely expects, the Air India flight had arrived on time.