Ravi the Unknown Prince (15 page)

He shook hands with my uncle and then with me and told us if we needed him to ring his office.

After he left my uncle started telling me his life story; he was married twice and both his wives died.

He had one son and he drowned in a boat accident and his body was never found; perhaps he was eaten by piranhas.

He was made homeless at one time and was sleeping rough and then he caught up with a group of men who were going into the interior mining for gold and he joined them.

He found some large pieces of gold and many smaller ones and when he sold that gold he bought a saw-mill which an elderly man was selling.

A few years later, one day a woman came to order some wood to make an out-house where she could seclude herself and do her paintings.

He delivered the wood and helped to build her house by a lake; he would visit her and buy some of her paintings and sell them on.

Many years later they got married and when her father passed away they took over Manaos Kingdom.

She was an only child and a very intelligent woman, she loved children but she was too old to have any.

“Now tell me about yourself; Hasan or Ravi”? “Which name do you prefer me to call you,” he asked.

“Hasan, uncle.” I replied.

Then I started telling him from when I became an orphan to my present day life.

While I was talking he shook his head a few times with tears in his eyes and then he picked up my hands and held them in his.

Then he said, “You know son this life is a test, I went through a similar fate but I had the will and courage to live and to help others in difficult circumstances.”

He told me that he was going to take me to see his ranch and where he lived so that I could see what he was doing all those years.

“We are having lunch at 12.30pm today, he said and tonight we going out with Edwin and his family to dine at a restaurant.”

“My son is upstairs, uncle. I must bring him downstairs for you to meet him and to have lunch with us.” I said to him.

He told me to sit down and he told one of the hotel employees to fetch the young man from room thirty two.

“How old is this son?” he asked.

“Husain is nine,” I replied “and Nizam is twelve.”

We continued to talk and he told me that his son, the pilot had gone out shopping for his wives and should be back for lunch.

I was thinking that he told me earlier that his son had died and now he was saying his son, the pilot.

I did not want to asked questions as he was well over seventy years old and he could be forgetful or getting senile.

As Husain approached he said to me that my son looked European with his reddish brown hair and light complexion.

Then I told him that Muna my wife had similar colour hair, and then he said that he would like to meet her one day.

When Husain arrived I introduced him to my uncle and he said, “Dad you and uncle look almost alike.”

Uncle Hanif smiled and said, “Your grand-father and I were two brothers and your father looks like his father, my brother.

We grew up together and then I went to live on the East Bank and he went to live on the West Coast.

I would make regular visits when our parents were alive and after they passed away I went a couple of times.

I had a few problems of my own which I got sorted and I have been looking for your father to get acquainted.”

Then Husain sat next to uncle and was telling him about his school in Kuwait and where he would like to go and study in the near future.

Shortly afterwards a handsome black guy of medium height and build with broad shoulders was walking towards us.

He was carrying a few shopping bags in both hands, and was smiling as he came closer and then he stood opposite us and put his bags on to the floor.

He said, “You must be cousin Hasan. My dad was eager to find you,” he stretched out his hand and I stood up and shook them.

He told me that his name was Alam and then he looked across at Husain and remarked, “You must be one of cousin Hasan’s sons.”

Husain got up and shook his hand and said, “I am Husain the younger son” and then I embraced Alam.

I was now thinking if he is who he said he was; why was my uncle giving his fortune to me.

He must be the pilot that uncle had mentioned earlier, therefore uncle must have married a black woman.

I was shocked and he must have noticed the expression on my face, although there was nothing wrong in marrying another race.

But it was a taboo when I was growing up and he looked much older than I was.

Then he said, “Dad I did not get everything written on this list.” Uncle told him, that we would be leaving after lunch the next day.

And that he could go out in the morning and get the rest to avoid a cat fight with the two women when he got back home.

“Lunch is at 12.30 son, we will wait for you,” uncle told Alam.

He got up excused himself and then picked up his bags and went upstairs.

After he had gone uncle told us that he was an orphan and he took him in and send him to school and later on he paid for his flying lessons in Georgetown.

He qualified as a pilot and he does all the flying now, he is like a son to him and very obedient.

Shereen took him when he was very little and he knew no other person than Shereen as his mother and him as his father.

He had two wives and the women fight like cat and dog over him, if he gave one wife anything extra and the other one found out she would pick a fight with the other woman and him.

He would leave them fighting and come over and sit with him or go off somewhere until the women calmed down.

When Alam returned we all went into the dining room to have our lunch.

The menu was fish with hot baked bread, root vegetables with side salad, and tropical fruit juice, followed by blancmange and ice cream.

It was my kind of food, simple and tasty, and I felt very much at home with the organic fresh produce.

While we were chatting and enjoying our meal a waiter came over and said that a man by the name of Imran was looking for Hasan Latchman.

I said to uncle that he was Ismael’s nephew and he drove us down to Georgetown.

Uncle told the waiter to bring him in, when he arrived after a brief introduction, uncle told him to sit down and he joined us.

Then he told me that Muna was getting worried. I did not telephone her last night and I told him that I fell asleep watching the TV, but I would do that as soon as I got upstairs.

I asked him about his aunt Maymun, he said that she was coping during the day but in the evening she gets tearful and that they were all waiting to hear from me.

After we finished our meal and left the dining area, we all went and sat in the lobby.

Uncle asked Imran what he did for a living and whether business was good and told him to buy another seven seat cruiser and get some-one to drive it.

Imran told him that he couldn’t afford it as he had three children to send to school.

Before he left us I told him to come and have lunch with us the following day and that I would be sending Husain back with him.

I would be going with my uncle to see where he was living and to meet with some of his people.

We all went outside with Imran and uncle asked him who maintained his vehicle.

He said that he was a mechanic by trade and did his own vehicle and helped other people in the village when he had some spare time.

After Imran had gone uncle told me that he would see me and Husain at around 6 o’clock in the lobby and that we were going to Edwin’s house first and then on to a restaurant, and that he was going to have a rest in his room.

Then I went upstairs to telephone Muna and had to apologise to her. We talked for an hour and then I took a nap.

That evening, we left the hotel after six o’clock for Edwin de Silva’s residence which was outside the capital.

It was a large detached house with a good sized garden of colourful plants. He opened the door and took us to a room that was beautifully decorated.

There were comfortable sofas and rocking chairs, polished floors with scattered rugs and a piano that stood in one corner of the room.

On the walls were pictures of tropical sceneries and one with Edwin and Ruby in swim wear sitting on a white sandy beach on a tropical Island with coconut trees hanging over the blue ocean.

While I was admiring all that rich living, an East Indian woman appeared in the door-way carrying a tray of tea and a glass of fruit juice.

She placed the tray on a table in the far corner of the room and then she began serving us with a fixed smile on her face.

Then Ruby came in and shook uncle’s hand and sat next to him chatting, while Edwin sat with the rest of us and talked about his two sons and one daughter.

The two teenaged boys and the girl about ten years old made their entrance as we were about to leave.

The boys looked more like their father with a reddish complexion and wavy hair.

The girl was more Asian looking, slim and stunningly beautiful. She asked Husain if he was an Arab and that she had never seen one before she only read about them in books.

He replied, “I am an Arab by birth, but both my parents are from the West Coast.”

She asked him for a photograph to show her school friends that she had met an Arab boy from Kuwait.

Husain told her that he would send her a few dressed as an Arab when he got back home and he took her address.

The boys were asking whether I could leave Husain behind to have supper with them and to teach them how to play chess.

We left around eight o’clock for the restaurant; Ruby decided to stay behind with the children as there were only men in our group.

We had beef for supper which came from uncle’s cattle ranch and he was the main supplier to a number of restaurants in the city and on the main-land.

We took our time eating and talking about various political and social issues facing the country.

It was late when we got back to the hotel and I decided to telephone Muna, someone answered the telephone and went to get her out of bed.

“Were you asleep?” I asked.

“Do you know what time is it?” she questioned.

“No, but I know you are going to tell me,” I answered.

“It is 2.30 in the morning and you were out all night,” she enquired.

“I just got in and wanted to hear your voice,” I replied. Husain is returning tomorrow and I would see you later in the week I am going with my uncle to see his ranch.”

She kept quiet and then I asked her what she would like me to bring back for her.

She told me to come back soon for us to return home to Kuwait. I had to reassure her that I would try my best to get back as soon as possible.

It was the first time that Muna and I had been apart from each other and she was finding it difficult to cope without me around.

Next morning Husain and I had room service at breakfast time, as we sat down to eat I asked him about his chess game the previous night.

He told me that he was teaching Ruby’s two sons how to play the game after they had beef stew for supper, and that uncle Alam brought them beef once every month from uncle’s ranch and he would collect supplies from town to take back home.

I told Husain that when he got back to the West Coast to tell Muna to open up our house and they could stay there until I returned.

She could get her mother to come over and stay with her and if any of Harun’s children wanted to stay they were welcome.

I was considering bringing my uncle to see the place and if she could get some-one to tidy up the garden.

At lunch time that day we all had our lunch in the dining room with Imran and then I sent Husain off with his bag and a few gifts Ruby had bought him.

I gave him a hug as we parted and told him to look after his mum until I returned.

He said, “Dad, please be careful and look after yourself.”

I reassured him that I would be alright and he should not be worried. I was very close with my two sons and I wanted to be a good father, even though I grew up without one.

After we checked out at the hotel a taxi took us to an airstrip out-side the capital where there were other light air crafts to one side of a run-way.

Alam walked across to one plane with red wings and “Desert Queen” written in black at the right rear.

He started loading the bags and I gave him a hand to finish the loading while uncle climbed on board and sat in the passenger seat at the front.

Then I got in at the back and strapped in. Alam took the control and in no time we were up in the air.

About fifteen minutes into our journey Alam said, “Cousin Hasan if you look to your right that place is Mackenzie District; a rich Bauxite mining town.”

“I have a school friend living and working out there,” I remarked.

“I can take you to see him,” he replied.

“I do not know his address, cousin Alam,” I answered.

“It is easy, cousin. If he works for the Company then they should have his name and address on their books,” he said.

Uncle then asked Alam if there was a landing strip for light air craft in the region.

Alam told him that he went there once for some spare parts for the Desert Queen and that they had two landing strips for light planes.

As we were approaching our destination uncle told Alam to circle the top half of the savannah for me to look at the cattle in the pasture.

Alam took the plane slightly lower and made a few turns and beneath me I could see thousands of black and white as well as brown and white cattle grazing in the lush green valley and meadow below.

Then uncle told Alam to take us home. The plane went up again and then we were slowly descending.

As we came in to land I noticed a large white building on a hill top with roads leading up to this huge mansion.

When we landed a land rover was waiting for us, the chauffeur a short brown-skinned East Indian man was standing by the bonnet with his arms folded and he was smiling.

He came forward and greeted us in broken English and opened the door and helped uncle out.