‘No. I don’t think so.’ She smiled. ‘But do you know it is almost impossible getting any information out of your country? Even the simplest answers.’

‘Sometimes things are not meant to be revealed.’

‘I’m sure not this. These are very basic questions.’

‘Death can be basic.’

‘There is no need to patronize me. The fact is we have no idea what killed him. According to the rules of the religious community the body was burned. They followed no protocol. There is no record, of anything, not even his last few weeks with the community.’

‘A mystery. And for which you have waited a year…’ He paused. ‘I presume he was the father?’

She didn’t answer.

‘You have given me a reason, but forgive me, I am unconvinced. You know in Jaipur we have an old saying: that there will be a reason within the reason, or if you like - a pattern within the pattern.’

‘Indeed.’

‘This town is never what it seems. If you like, it is a town within a town. There are many veils like our old purdah. You have not come for God, you have not even come for India…’ He paused, thinking of her arrival and the intense interest from the crowds. The baby had a blemish on his forehead, in India a sign of reincarnation. He doubted she even knew. ‘It would definitely have been better to go somewhere else; you will have too much attention here.’

‘Really I don’t expect to be here long at all. I think you over complicate matters.’

‘India is not a walk in the park,’ he said severely. He paused, looking at the blemished baby, considering everything. In the India she did not believe in this mark on her baby was the sign of an incarnation, of Vishnu, of Shiva, an old soul, certainly a miracle. He himself was cautious about miracles.

‘May I give you advice?’ he said. ‘It would be better to say nothing of your real reasons for being here, to anyone, even the family when you meet them. It will attract a lot of attention. See how much interest you have already, and that was in silence. And this family is Rajput.’