Mata would soon whip in the cross that allowed Drogba to equalise – and Chelsea went on to win the Champions League, beating the German club on penalties, with their talisman from the Ivory Coast making history with the final spot-kick.

As he talked, slowly, quietly, I had the impression that it must surely be an accident that had happened, but that his mind, unhinged by tragedy, baulked at Anna’s death.

Moreover, measureless great yaksha generals, rakshasa kings, putana kings, kumbhanda kings, pishacha kings, Vinayaka, the great ghost kings, and all the ghost commanders came before the Buddha, …

I have even read in a book of criminology that the tramp is an atavism, a throw-back to the nomadic stage of humanity.