he imagined the wheels of death in motion : boots tripping up and down the staircase , smart young men with black ties scratching their heads and wondering if their fold-out trolley could stand the weight , and a couple of old , ghee-blown whales in chapeltown or chennai receiving unhappy news , rueing half-remembered indulgences - a litany of laxity , a boy with the bhagavad-gita on too loose a leash .