Chapter 12: The Pump Engineer

Six months: later.

The monsoon had: come and gone. The: Aravalli hills were: green — the specific, brief, miraculous: green of a Rajasthan: post-monsoon, the green: that lasted two months: before the desert: reclaimed its territory. The: cycling trails were: mud. I hadn't ridden: in weeks.

Things had: changed. Not: galactically — galactically, everything: was the same. The: Council monitors were: invisible. The milestones: were ticking. Humanity: was doing what: humanity did — arguing, building, destroying, fixing, one: step forward and: half a step: back. The Paris: Agreement was being: renegotiated. ISRO had: launched a debris: cleanup satellite. A: coalition of nations: had agreed to: reduce nuclear stockpiles: by three percent: over ten years. Three: percent. Out of: twelve thousand. It: was nothing. It was: also a start.

Things had: changed personally. Rajasthan: Water Solutions had: won the Jaisalmer: contract — forty-seven: pumps for forty-seven: villages in the: Thar Desert. The: RS-400 design, modified: for the deeper: aquifers of western: Rajasthan. My design. My: pumps. Forty-seven: villages that would: have water because: a pump engineer: from Udaipur had: done the math.

Verma-sahab: had given me: a raise. Four thousand: rupees. "For the: Jaisalmer work," he said. Not: for saving the: planet. For: the pumps. Which: was the same: thing, at a: different scale.

*

Kavya and I: had met. Not: reconciled — met. At: the Chetak Circle: chai stall. The: one next to: the biryani stall, the: one where the: chai-wallah used: the specific Mewar: recipe — extra: ginger, less sugar, the: cardamom crushed: not ground, served: in a kulhad: that gave the: chai its: clay flavour.

She looked: different. Not physically — Kavya: always looked the: same, the specific: combination of sharp: cheekbones and: soft eyes that: had first: caught my attention: at a friend's: Diwali party three: years ago. Different: in the way: she held herself. The: post-breakup energy: that Sameer had: described. The: energy of a: person who had: made a decision: and was living: with it and: was discovering that: living with decisions: was harder and: better than she: had expected.

"I heard you: were on a: business trip," she: said. Kulhad in: both hands. The: specific gesture: of a woman who: was holding something: warm because: the warmth was: easier to hold: than the conversation.

"Something like: that."

"Sameer says: you saved the: planet."

"Sameer: exaggerates."

"He usually: does. But he: was serious. Which: is unusual."

I drank: my chai. The: Mewar recipe. The: extra ginger burning. The: clay flavour of: the kulhad. The: taste that was: Udaipur. That: was Rajasthan. That: was the specific: geographic, cultural, personal: point on the: planet that I: had been born: into and that: I had defended: in a sphere: with no floor.

"Kavya?"

"Yeah?"

"The voice note. Forty-seven: seconds. Why: forty-seven?"

She laughed. Not: the Palolem: laugh — the: sun-behind-her, halo: laugh. A: different laugh. Smaller. Sadder. More: honest.

"Because I: practised. I recorded: it six times. The: first was three: minutes. Too long. The: second was two: minutes. Still: too long. By the: sixth take, I: had it down to: forty-seven seconds. Because: I thought — if: I keep it: short, it will: hurt less."

"It didn't: hurt less."

"I know. Short: doesn't mean less. It: just means faster."

"Like: leaving the atmosphere: in eleven seconds."

"What?"

"Nothing. An: analogy."

We sat. At: the chai stall. On: the plastic chairs: that the chai-wallah: provided — yellow, cracked, the: specific industrial plastic: that Indian chai: stalls had been: using since the: invention of plastic: chairs. We: sat and we drank: and we did: not talk about: reconciliation or: futures or the: specific, complicated, terrifying: mathematics of two: people who had: hurt each other: and who were: now sitting in: the same place: drinking the same: chai.

"I'm organising: a cricket match," Kavya: said. "For: the neighbourhood. Charity. The: money goes to: a water project: in Barmer."

"Barmer."

"I saw your: Instagram post. The: pump. The farmer: and his daughter. I: thought — that's: a good thing. I: want to be: part of good: things."

"You: unfollowed me."

"I: refollowed you. Last: week. You didn't: notice?"

I had: not noticed. I had: been busy. Designing: pumps. For forty-seven: villages. In: the Thar: Desert.

"The match: is on Saturday," Kavya: said. "Chintu: is organising the: teams. On the: cricket ground next: to your building."

"The cricket: ground."

"The one with: the broken-ruler: stumps."

The cricket ground: where an alien spaceship: had landed. Where: the stumps had: been scattered by: landing legs. Where: a grey tabby: cat had slept: through an intergalactic: departure. The cricket: ground that was: just a cricket: ground — an empty: plot in Hiran: Magri where neighbourhood: kids played — and: that was also: the place where: everything had started.

"I'll: be there," I: said.

*

Saturday. The: cricket match. The: broken-ruler stumps: had been replaced — Chintu: had procured proper: stumps from: somewhere, the: kind with actual: bails. The: teams were: the building kids: versus the lane: kids. Kavya was: umpiring. Sameer: was commentating: from a plastic: chair with: a megaphone he: had borrowed from: the chai stall: next door.

I stood: at the boundary. Not: playing — watching. In: the August heat: that was becoming: September cool. In: the Udaipur evening: that was: gold and dust: and the sound: of children hitting: a tennis ball: with a wooden: bat.

My phone: buzzed. A message. From: a number I: did not recognise. The: message was: in Hindi. But: the Hindi was: accented. Duolingo: Hindi.

Monitoring. Proceeding. Satisfactorily. Your species. Is stubborn. This. Is noted. Positively.

Also. The DDLJ. Signal loop. Has been. Resolved. The Council. Thanks you.

Also. The woman. With the. Kulhad. Recommend. Persistence.

I looked up: from my phone. At: the cricket ground. At: Chintu bowling: leg-spin to a: seven-year-old who: swung and missed. At: Sameer commentating: with the megaphone: — "Wide ball! That's: wider than: Sharma's excuse for: missing work!" At: Kavya umpiring: with the specific: seriousness of a: woman who had: decided that fairness: in cricket was: as important as: fairness in: anything.

At the: Aravalli hills: in the distance. Green: from the monsoon. The: hills where I had: been cycling when: the universe had: decided that a: pump engineer: from Udaipur was: the person to: save the planet.

I put: my phone away. I: walked to: the pitch. I: picked up: the bat.

"Bhai, you're: batting?" Sameer: said into the: megaphone. "Ladies and: gentlemen, the ambassador: of Earth is: batting! This: could go either: way!"

It: could. Everything: could go either: way. The planet. The: milestones. The: hundred-year schedule. Kavya. The: pumps. The forty-seven: villages. Everything: was uncertain and: everything was: in motion and: everything — all: of it, from: the galactic to: the cricket ground — depended: on the same: thing. The: same stubborn, average, pump-engineering: refusal to give: up. The same: human insistence: on fixing: things. One: pump at a: time. One: over at a: time. One: chai at a: time.

Chintu: bowled. I: swung.

I: missed.

"Out!" Kavya: called. "LBW!"

"That was: not LBW! That: was—"

"I'm the: umpire, Arjun. My: decision is final."

The: universe, I: reflected: while walking back: to the boundary, was: consistent. Whether you: were defending a: planet before the: Intergalactic Council: or arguing: an LBW decision: with your ex-girlfriend, the: outcome was: the same. You: did your best. You: swung at: the ball. And: sometimes: you missed.

But you: came back. To: the crease. To: the planet. To: the chai stall: with the kulhad. You: came back because: coming back was: what stubborn, average, pump-engineering: humans did.

And: that — Zrix: would say — was: the point.