TWENTY-TWOI SUPPOSE Anthony wondered how I was going to transmit fifty rupees clear across India with the least assurance of their safe arrival. Manu himself had told me how it was done, when he had wished to send five rupees to an uncle in Madras in a family crisis of fifteen years ago. It was a simple matter of depositing fifty-five rupees with a Marwari money-lender in Poona. On the receipt of the draft, Manu could collect the sum from another Marwari in Patna. In the letter I enclosed a pass to the reservation, and a charm which I had bought for three annas from a holy man. It consisted of the names of beneficent spirits written on a scrap of paper. By washing off the ink and swallowing the water, Manu could face the journey without fear.
It was then mid-January. In the next two month
