Summary
Chapter 12
Hari ends up taking a bus back to Thul, which Jagu and Mr. Panwallah help pay for. Mr. Panwallah cautions him to be safe, watch for pickpockets, and send him a postcard. Hari bids his friends goodbye.
The bus heads out of the city and drives past a marshy sea. There is then a dreary stretch consisting of factories, and then more and more signs of transformation—construction, cut trees, etc. However, the hills are still violet and bronze, the sky blue, and the rice fields fecund.
The bus sets Hari at the hill with the temple on top. Thul seems unchanged and Hari is exhilarated to be home, especially to see the beautiful sea. He can see small fishing boats and sighs with relief that not everything has changed.
He walks past the field where he worked, sees the white bungalow of Mon Repos, and finally espies his own dark and dismal hut. He decides he will rebuild it and make it a cheerful and happy home.
Hari approaches the hut and calls for his sisters. Lila rushes out and they embrace excitedly. Hari has a thousand questions but for now he is simply grateful to be home.
Hari washes up. Lila fills him in on Mother and Father. Hari gives all of his sisters their gifts, for which they are very grateful. He explains he brought a lot of money home because he never spent a dime on himself. He tells them about repairing watches, which at first saddens Lila because she cannot see how it would make money, but he tells her the full plan of starting a small poultry farm and then later starting his own watch repair shop. The girls are excited to work at the poultry farm and can see Hari’s vision of how the people coming for the factory will need food.
Hari and Lila go down to buy fish from the fleet. Hari wants something expensive but Lila is practical and not used to having money, so she buys cheap shrimp. Hari tells her he hasn’t had it for so long and is happy about it.
Lila tells Hari that tomorrow is Diwali and they can bring Mother home. Hari volunteers to fetch her.
That evening, they talk and talk and talk of everything that befell them. Hari compliments Lila for taking care of the family. She explains that the de Silvas and their new guest Sayyid Ali have helped as well. That name sounds familiar to Hari but he cannot place it. He says he will visit the man soon to thank him.
Chapter 13
On Diwali morning, Hari prepares to go to Alibagh. He cannot stop thinking about his plans and how to make them succeed. He is cheerful as he prepares to catch a bus.
Suddenly he hears his name and it is Ramu, his old friend. Ramu is also going to Alibagh and volunteers to take Hari on his bicycle. Ramu is surprised by his friend’s gravitas and advice to grow and change.
Hari arrives in Alibagh and before he can ask for his mother, his father, whom he barely recognizes, approaches him. His father reproaches him for not coming at first, but Hari explains he was in Bombay.
The doctor tells them that Mother can go home but will need to return for a check-up each month. Hari promises. He is elated to see his mother, who looks healthy for the first time since he can remember. She looks older, yes, but much healthier and brighter.
The family takes a tonga back to Thul for Diwali. The girls have everything ready for when they return. Their father cries weakly at the display of decoration while their mother beams and laughs. They offer garlands and prayers to Ganesha and Lakshmi. In the evening, they set up clay lamps and light them. They also set off numerous fireworks and clap their hands gleefully at the beautiful explosions. Hari also suggests a bonfire on the beach, which is lovely and serene under the stars.
Mother tells them all the story of Diwali as she used to do, and afterward, to all of their surprise, Father says “poor Pinto.” They recognize this is an apology for his past behavior.
The next day is Hindu New Year. All the houses are decorated with garlands of mango leaves and marigolds. There will be bullock cart races later. Hari has nothing to do during the preparations so he decides to go see the sahib up at the house.
Hari finds the old man sitting near the marshes. He knows he has seen him before but cannot place him. Sayyid Ali invites him to sit with him and explains that he has been researching the nest-building habits of the baya birds. Hari is surprised, as they are not particularly attractive birds, but he starts watching and learning and begins to admire them as well.
Hari suddenly recognizes the voice and tells Sayyid Ali he heard him in Bombay. Ali invites him to the veranda to talk. Hari tells him he was in Bombay, and that his sisters are the ones that have been working here. Ali sighs that they lost the case in court and the politicians won. He is morose, saying everything is doomed and even the baya birds will lose their home. That is why he likes birds, he explains—they are the last free creatures. He loves their freedom and wishes he could also leave the ugliness of earth and fly away.
Hari tells him they cannot leave though, and must stay and live here. Ali asks what he will do and Hari tells him shyly of his plans. Ali is astounded to hear of the watchmaking and asks if he can look at one of his watches. Hari can hardly believe this, and agrees. He tells Ali upon inspecting it that water has gotten into it.
The old man looks at him in awe and cries out that he is adapting, just like the birds are. Hari is uncertain, but Ali tells him he’s just told him how he was going to do it. The old man wanders off, but Hari does not mind; he has been filled with the confidence he needed and wanted.
Back in the village, Biju wins the bullock cart race and everyone congratulates him; it seems his heroic role in rescuing the fishermen has endeared him to everyone. Hari gives his sisters some sweets and they all realize that life seems perfect at this moment. Hari is even more thrilled to see his mother among the women stepping into the sea to scatter flower petals and colored powder, and calls for Lila to look.
Analysis
By the time Hari returns home in time for Diwali, he is a changed boy. He has money in his pocket and pride in his heart. He knows where he belongs and he feels like he has done a good thing for his family. He is confident that the poultry farm and the watch repair shop will work, and is able to articulate why to his sisters.
Hari’s self-growth is also evident in his conversation with Sayyid Ali. Ali is by all rights the “wiser” figure—he is old, experienced, and educated. Nevertheless, he has tunnel vision accompanied by a heavy heaping of despair right now. From his perspective, the way things were is being replaced by the way things are going to be, and that way is characterized by loss, change, and harm to people and the environment. He has adopted a perspective that the only way to get by is to mourn. Hari’s simple but moving explanation for what his plans are start to chip away at Sayyid Ali’s resolute unhappiness because the old man is able to see how this young rural boy has managed to learn new skills and has real plans for the future. Desai thus suggests that the young may very well have important things to teach the old.
Hari also shows nuance in his thinking by complimenting Lila on her hard work here at home and telling her she needs to be part of his decision-making in the future. It is not a wholesale embrace of any feminist sort of ideology, but it is an important, albeit subtle, indication of Hari’s recognition that women and girls are valuable beyond what their gender roles say they are. As for Lila, she also does not demonstrate any markedly new mode of thinking—she is content to follow along with Hari’s plans for the future and will no doubt have marriage coming up in a few years—but she has proven herself by making ends meet while the traditional providers, her father and Hari, were unavailable.
There are also major changes for the children’s parents. Mother is no longer deathly ill and has begun to take part in family life again. She resumes her role as storyteller and joins the rest of the women of the community at the end of the novel when they wade into the sea and spread petals and powder on the rocks. Father has quit drinking and appears newly chastened. He is gruff at first with Hari, but when Father returns to the family hut he starts crying “weakly” and is able to offer his version of an apology. He may not ever be a loving, capable father, but these are positive changes.
All in all, the novel ends on a happy note even though we as readers can guess that not everything will continue to go swimmingly in the future. That isn’t the point, though; for the time being, we can revel in the much-deserved happiness of this family.
