The night air smelled of a mix of diesel smoke and hot oil. There was a parotta shop open after midnight. It was for the late-night lorry drivers and the travellers who arrived late in the city. The tin roof of the shop made a creaking sound in the breeze. Lakshmi, the owner's wife, kept wiping the table after every customer.

Ramesh came to this shop every night. He parked his scooter outside the shop and then sat at the same corner bench. Ramesh was a guy in his mid-thirties. He came with tired eyes after the long working hours on the railway.