We knew Dashashwamedh would be crowded as it was Bijaya Dashami. So we decided to take a different route, past Abhay Chakravarty’s house, to reach Kedar Ghat. Raja Ghat wasn’t far from Kedar. While we were waiting for Feluda’s call, Lalmohan Babu had stepped out for a minute and bought a few ayurvedic pills. ‘To calm my nerves,’ he explained. I noticed now that the pills had had the desired effect. The first lane we turned into had a huge bull standing diagonally across, blocking our way completely. Lalmohan Babu, instead of getting nervous, walked boldly up to it and said, ‘Get out of the way, you!’ The bull stepped aside. Lalmohan Babu passed through. I lingered deliberately, simply to see what he would do next. To my amusement, he turned around, beckoned to me, and said, ‘Come along, Tapesh. Don’t be afraid.’ The number of people gathered both in and outside Abhay Chakravarty’s house seemed much larger than usual. Then I remembered that this was the day Machchli Baba was supposed to leave Varanasi. This meant that there was going to be another big event, in addition to the immersion of Durga. I saw a man from our hotel standing outside. ‘Do you know which ghat Machchli Baba will go from?’ I asked him. ‘Would it be Kedar?’ ‘No, I think it’s going to be Dashashwamedh.’ ‘We’ll have to witness the event from a distance,’ I said to Lalmohan Babu. ‘Good,’ he replied cheerfully. ‘At least we won’t get trampled in the rush!’ It took us five minutes to reach Raja Ghat from Kedar. A number of tall buildings on one side blocked out the sunlight. The river had risen considerably after the rains. The buildings cast long shadows up to the edge of the water. It was only a matter of minutes before the sun would disappear altogether. A row of boats stood by the side of the ghat. From Dashashwamedh came a constant cacophony. It included the sound of drums and bursting of crackers. The immersion of Durga had started. We had crossed Raja Ghat and were walking towards Munshi. I saw the hand-painted poster on the wall a minute later. The spot Feluda had chosen was really very quiet. Besides, we could see Dashashwamedh fairly clearly, although we were not very close. ‘Durga Mai ki jai!’ shouted the crowd. A figure of Durga was raised on top of a barge and lowered into the water. The sun had gone. But the crowd at Dashashwamedh seemed to have swollen further. Lalmohan Babu looked at his watch. ‘Twenty to six,’ he said. ‘If only your cousin was here with his telefocus—’ he couldn’t finish. A fresh shout had risen from the crowd. ‘Guruji ki jai! Machchli Baba ki jai!’

At one end of Dashashwamedh, about twenty-five yards from where we were standing, facing us was a platform. A few people were standing on it. Now they suddenly grew a bit restless. Each one of them was craning his