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the noise of the street seemed to drop away, and Ben was staring at a stone statue a little taller than he was, on a platform across the road. He had to get closer.
    Madhu scurried after him. “Ben sahib, this is our popular god, Ganesh. The elephant boy we call him. Children are asking Ganesh to help when they have some difficulty.”
    It was a happy-looking god. The plump elephant’s face had a broad smile. Its long trunk fell over the round belly and the pudgy crossed legs of a seated boy. The elephant god had four arms and long ears. Madhu said, “Ganesh has big ears so he can listen when children talk to him. Look carefully. See one of his hands holds a round cake? This god is fond of sweets.”
    “Just like my grandmother,” Ben laughed.
    Ben ran his hand down the elephant’s curving trunk. It was hot from the sun and strangely smooth. It felt almost human. What was it about these Indian elephants? He had the same feeling yesterday at the street parade when he’d been drawn to the live elephant. This was only a statue, but it was pulling him powerfully.
    “You like our Ganesh, Ben sahib?” Madhu asked.
    Ben kept his hand on the warm trunk and turned to answer. “What kid wouldn’t like a god who listens to children?”
    “We must go now, Ben sahib,” Madhu said. Once again, Ben wasn’t ready to leave but he knew he had to go with Madhu back to the taxi where Gran and Padam were waiting. It would be time for them to return to the registry office.
    At the door to the office building, Gran thanked the two men. She hesitated and then asked Ben if he’d sort out the money to pay them. “Who’s this man on the bills?” Ben asked as he handed the rupees to Madhu.
    “That is our beloved Mahatma Gandhi,” Madhu said. “India’s great spiritual leader during our independence. This humble man travelled everywhere wearing only a simple cotton cloth we call a dhoti. Our leader is renowned for telling us we must show patience and persistence.”
    Padam interrupted in his squeaky voice, “Patience and persistence. Qualities I strive to reach for myself.”
    Madhu added, “And seldom achieve!” The two men nudged each other and giggled.
    Gran looked as though she was feeling better but her hat was tilted at a funny angle. She straightened it and said, “We might be a long time at the registry office today, and I don’t want to keep you waiting. Could we take you to dinner tonight to say a proper thank you?”
    Madhu beamed. “Thank you indeed, Norah memsahib. We are being honoured and will come to your hotel at seven this evening.”
    Ben wished his friend Mac was around to bring along, but at least eating with these two drivers would be more fun than eating alone with Gran.
    The registry waiting room was as crowded as it had been the day before. Ben took a number from the same bushy-browed receptionist at the front desk and they found the last two empty seats along the wall.
    Number 16 had just been called. Ben held number 52 in his hand. He looked around. There was no window in the stuffy room. It felt as though the hot air from other people’s breathing was being recycled up his nose. He tried to take shallow inhalations so the stale air didn’t reach his lungs. It didn’t seem to bother Gran, who had opened her guidebook and was reading. Ben wished little Harish were here to help pass the time. Even better, if he could lose himself in a game on his PSP. He watched flies chase each other against the smudged wall. An old man across the room sneezed seven times, then pulled himself together and sneezed twice more.
    Ben turned his thoughts to the man levitating above the ground at the Red Fort. Was that real or did you have to believe in some kind of magic like Padam had said? Ben was mad at himself for not taking a picture, but at least he had one of the cobra taken before Gran had started to scream.
    That statue of Ganesh made him wonder why Hindus had a god with an elephant’s head on a boy’s body.