The train from Churchgate Station came into view, approaching us at a steady pace. Vikram gave me the signal, opening his eyes as widely as the muscles would allow, and shaking his head. I put my hands on Lettie's shoulders, gently turning her until she stood as Vikram had requested, with her back to the tracks.
"Do you trust me, Lettie?" I asked. She smiled up at me.
"A bit," she replied.
"Okay," I nodded. "Well, I want you to do something. It's gonna sound strange, I know, but if you don't do it, you'll never know how much Vikram loves you-how much we _all love you. It's a surprise that we figured out for you. It's about love..."
The train slowed behind her as it entered the station. Her eyes were gleaming. A smile flickered and faded on her open lips. She was intrigued and excited. Vikram and Didier were gesturing wildly, behind her back, for me to hurry. The train stopped with a wheezy creak of metal triumph.
"So, here it is-you have to put a blindfold on, and you have to promise us not to look until we tell you."
"Is that it?"
"Well, yeah," I shrugged.
She looked at me. She stared. She smiled into my eyes. She raised her eyebrows, and turned down the corners of her mouth as she considered it. Then she nodded.
"Okay," she laughed. "Let's do it."
Vikram leapt forward with the blindfold and tied it on, asking her if it was too tight. He guided her a step or two backwards, toward the train, and then told her to raise her arms over her head.
"Raise my arms? What, like this? If you tickle me, Vikram, you'll pay!"
Some men appeared at the edge of the roofline on the train carriage. They'd been lying on the roof of the train. They leaned over, and seized Lettie's raised arms, lifting her slight frame effortlessly onto the roof with them. Lettie shrieked, but the piercing sound was lost in the shrill of the train guard's whistle. The train began to move.
"Come on!" Vikram shouted to me, climbing up the outside of the carriage to join her.
I glanced at Didier.
"No, my friend!" he shouted. "This is not for me. You go! Hurry!"
I jogged along beside the train, and clambered up the outside of the carriage to the roof. There were a dozen men or more on the roof. Some of them were musicians. Sitting together, they cradled tablas, cymbals, flutes, and tambourines in their laps. Further along the dusty roof was a second group. Lettie sat in the middle of them. She still wore the blindfold. Men held her at the shoulders-one on each arm, and two from behind-to keep her safe. Vikram knelt in front of her.
I heard his pleading as I crept along the roof toward them at a crouch.
"I promise you, Lettie. It really is a great surprise."
"Oh, it's a friggin' surprise all right," she shouted. "And not half as big as the surprise you're gonna get, when we get down from here, Vikram bloody Patel!"
"Hi, Lettie!" I called to her. "Great view, eh? Oh, sorry. Forgot about the blindfold. Well, it _will be a great view, when you can see it."
"This is fuckin' madness, Lin!" she shouted at me. "Tell these bastards to let go of me!"
"That wouldn't be wise, Lettie," Vikram answered. "They're hanging on to you so you don't fall, yaar, or stand up, and snag yourself on an overhead wire, or something. It's really only another half a minute, I promise you, and then you'll understand what all is happening."
"I understand, don't you worry. I understand that you're a dead man, Vikram, when I get down from here. You might as well throw me off the bloody roof now, I'm tellin' ya! If you think I-"
Vikram untied the blindfold, and watched her as she looked around, taking in the perspective from the roof of the fast moving train. Her mouth fell open, and her face slowly swelled into a wide smile.
"Wow! It's... Wow! It really is a great view!"
"Look!" Vikram commanded, turning to point along the roofs of the train carriages. There was something stretched across the tracks, much higher than the roofline of the train. It was strung between the pylon supports for the overhead electric wires. It was a huge banner, puffed like the sail of a ship in the steady breeze.
There were words painted on it. As we neared the banner, the writing became clear enough to read. The words were painted in letters as tall as a man. They filled the whole width of the billowing sheet:
"I was afraid you would stand up and hurt yourself," Vikram said.
"That's why those fellows were holding on to your arms."
Suddenly, the musicians struck up the chiming, thudding strains of a popular love song. Their voices soared over the blood stirring thump of the tablas and the wail of the flutes. Vikram and Lettie stared at one another, their eyes holding as the train pulled into a station, stopped, and pulled out again. Half way to the next station, we approached another banner. Vikram wrenched his eyes from hers, and looked ahead. She followed his gaze. More words were written across the taut white cloth:
