Such a Long Journey

Gustad decides to buy a live chicken for Dilnavaz to cook for Roshan’s birthday dinner. Dilnavaz is unenthusiastic about this plan, telling Gustad, “I’m not going to touch the chicken” (20). Gustad invites some friends from the bank he works at to help celebrate Roshan’s birthday and Sohrab’s admission to the tech college. Gustad goes to the Crawford Market directly from work to purchase the bird. He hates the market, finding it “a dirty, smelly, overcrowded place where the floors were slippery with animal ooze and vegetable waste” (21). He struggles to identify the best chicken while pretending to know what he is doing; “chicken was definitely not his area of expertise” (22).

That said, Gustad is an expert at purchasing beef. He learned this skill from his friend Malcolm, the man who helped him rescue furniture from the bailiff when Gustad’s father went bankrupt. Malcolm is a pianist from a family of musicians, and a practicing Catholic.

Gustad is anxious about carrying home a chicken, believing he carries “the potential source of Hindu-Muslim riots” (210). Malcolm, Gustad remembers, was unperturbed by such scruples. After learning the art of beef-buying from Malcolm, Gustad was so enthusiastic he wanted to share his knowledge with friends and neighbors but found that no one was as interested as he was himself. Eventually Gustad stopped shopping at the market at all, depending instead on the less appealing offerings of the goaswalla, who sell lesser-quality goat, beef, or buffalo door-to-door at the Khodadad Building.

Gustad’s children are delighted by the live chicken, and Darius feeds it grains of rice from his palm. Sohrab expresses irritation that Gustad keeps talking about his college acceptance: “Ever since the exam results came, you are driving me crazy with your talk of IIT” (27). During the night, Dilnavaz gets up to use the bathroom and hears the chicken clucking. Thinking it might be hungry, she goes to the kitchen to feed it and accidentally knocks a measuring cup to the floor. The clatter wakes the rest of the family, who gather in the kitchen. Annoyed, Gustad teases Dilnavaz. Roshan thinks the chicken is happy to see them. Gustad’s irritation vanishes and he allows his daughter to feed the bird.

The butcher who delivers to the Khodadad Building comes to slaughter the chicken. The butcher goes into the kitchen to kill the bird while Gustad waits by the front door to distance himself from the procedure. Suddenly, the chicken runs out the door past Gustad and into the compound. The butcher chases the bird, followed by Gustad who runs slowly, hobbled by his damaged hip. One of Gustad’s neighbors, Tehmul, catches the chicken despite his extreme handicaps. When Tehmul was a boy he fell out of the neem tree in the compound courtyard, breaking his hip and injuring his head, leaving him physically and mentally disabled.

After the butcher returns to the kitchen with his knife, Gustad congratulates Tehmul for catching the bird. Tehmul follows Gustad back to his apartment. The butcher comes out of the kitchen wiping his bloodied knife as Roshan cries. Two crows sit on the windowsill but fly away, cawing loudly as Dilnavaz enters the kitchen.

To Gustad’s relief, Miss Kutpitia has refused Dilnavaz’s invitation to the birthday dinner. Dinshawji, Gustad’s friend and coworker, will be the sole guest. Dinshawji is older than Gustad, but the men have a close friendship, “the sort of bond peculiar to such institutions, nurtured from strength to strength by the dryness and mustiness native to the business of banks” (36).

Gustad sets out small bowls of snacks in preparation for their guest’s arrival. He deliberates bringing out an almost empty bottle of Hercules XXX rum that was a gift from Major Bilimoria. It’s almost empty, and Gustad decides he will offer Dinshawji a choice between the rum and Golden Eagle beer. Dinshawji arrives by himself, claiming that his wife, whom Gustad has never met, is not feeling well.

Dinshawji is apparently unhappily married, and his nickname for his wife is “the domestic vulture” (36). He also has chronically bad breath, the strength of which depends at least partly on his mood. Gustad notices with relief that Dinshawji’s breath is only mildly smelly. Dilnavaz greets Dinshawji and asks after his health. She has heard from Gustad that he hasn’t been well. Dinshawji claims to be “tiptop” (38). As Gustad gets the drinks, Dinshawji muses that he hasn’t been to the Nobles' apartment for seven or eight years. He used to visit every Sunday while Gustad recuperated from his broken hip.

The talk turns to politics, and Dinshawji reminisces about the riots that occurred when Prime Minister Nehru appointed his daughter, Indira Gandhi, president of the Congress Party. They also gossip about other employees at the bank. Gustad’s children enter the room to greet Dinshawji. His congratulations to Sohrab about his IIT admission cause Sohrab to angrily tell his father, “You keep boasting to everyone about IIT. As if you were going there yourself. I’m not interested in it, I’ve already told you” (40). He tells Gustad he’s going to drink some rum if there are no objections.

Dinshawji is amazed that Darius claims to do 50 push-ups and 50 squats every morning. Gustad verifies this, saying that he does a hundred of each himself. His grandfather used to motivate him to exercise by telling him stories of wrestlers and strongmen. Darius, proud of his bodybuilding hobby, overcomes his shyness to show Dinshawji his biceps. Darius is pleased to have a successful hobby after several years of trying to raise fish and other pets that died and were buried by his father’s vinca bush outside their window. Roshan has been pleading with her father to sing “the donkey song” (43), and Gustad complies. Everyone tries to join in at the end. Dinshawji teases Darius about his muscles and tickles Roshan until Dilnavaz tells them dinner is on the table.

In addition to the nine pieces Dilnavaz has eked out of the cooked chicken, there is vegetable stew and rice. There is an unspoken agreement that the chicken will be enjoyed as the last course. Gustad starts to tell Dinshawji the story about the live chicken escaping from the butcher but Dilnavaz stops him. Mentioning it puts a damper on everyone’s appetite. Gustad decides they should sing the “Happy Birthday” song to Roshan. They sing and Gustad toasts his daughter, wishing her a long and interesting life. Dinshawji continues the tickling game and sings a silly song about birthday wishes, ignoring his tendency to lisp the “sh” sound into “ss.”

The apartment suddenly goes completely dark. It’s a neighborhood blackout, confirmed by Tehmul when Gustad leans out the window to talk to him. Dilnavaz lights a kerosene lamp, while Dinshawji recites a poem about ghosts to the cheers of Gustad and the children. Gustad toasts Sohrab, and they all sing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” failing to notice that Sohrab is asking them to stop. Finally, Sohrab shouts loud enough to be heard and the group stops mid-verse, lapsing into awkward silence.

Gustad doesn’t understand why Sohrab is so moody, while Dilnavaz worries aloud that the food is getting cold. Sohrab says, “I’m sick and tired of IIT, IIT, IIT all the time. I’m not interested in it, I’m not a jolly good fellow about it, and I’m not going there” (48). Gustad tells Sohrab he shouldn’t have drunk the rum. The two argue briefly, Sohrab insisting that IIT was all Gustad’s idea, that he never wanted it. He likes his present college and has friends there. Gustad scoffs at the idea of friendship. Major Bilimoria’s disappearance has shown him that friendship is worthless. Dinshawji tries to cover the awkwardness by reminding everyone they still have the chicken left to eat. The rest of the meal is mostly silent, and when Dinshawji finds the wishbone, only Gustad is willing to pull on it, winning the short end for himself.

After Dinshawji departs, Sohrab and Gustad continue their argument about IIT. Sohrab says, “I know I am speaking to my father. But my father does not want to know the truth when he hears it” (50). Gustad replies, “First suffer like your parents have, then talk about truth” (50). He demands that Roshan bring him his belt so he can beat Sohrab into submission. Dilnavaz hopes Sohrab will back down, but he stands up to Gustad, saying, “I’m not scared of him or anything” (50).

Gustad wields the belt, and Dilnavaz steps in front of Sohrab, taking the blow on her legs. Roshan screams at the adults to stop fighting. Gustad continues to swing the belt at Sohrab, but the strength has gone from his blows. Miss Kutpitia’s voice calls out to stop all the noise. Dilnavaz takes the opportunity to get the children out of the kitchen. When she returns to tell Gustad that the kids are in bed waiting for his goodnight kiss, his anger has dimmed, but he says that Sohrab is no longer his son: “My son is dead” (52). Dilnavaz sees confusion behind Gustad’s anger and wants to comfort him but can’t, not fully understanding the source of his conflict. She clears the dinner dishes and goes to bed.

Gustad sits alone in the dark, drinking a mixture of rum, beer, lemon, and soda water. He takes Major Jimmy Bilimoria’s letter from a cupboard and rereads it. The letter acknowledges that Gustad must be angry that Jimmy left Khodadad Building without saying goodbye. He writes that he had no choice, that he left suddenly because of secret work he is doing for the government. Then he asks Gustad to receive a parcel for him. One day in the future, when they are all together again, Jimmy promises to tell the Nobles the story of why he has disappeared. Gustad notices the quality of Jimmy’s writing paper and thinks of the generous gifts Major Uncle always gave his children and of how much the children loved and admired him. Gustad turns the kerosene lamp lower, enjoying the darkness. He continues to drink the rum-beer mixture, enjoying it now more than he did at first. He thinks of the dim future Sohrab will have if he refuses the place at IIT. Even so, the tension eases in Gustad’s body.

His thoughts turn to the accident that broke his hip. He and Sohrab had boarded the wrong bus on the way to lunch. The conductor wouldn’t stop the bus early and demanded Gustad and Sohrab either get off or pay the fare to the next stop. They tried to step off the bus while it was moving, and Sohrab slipped and fell in the street. Leaping from the bus, Gustad just managed to kick Sohrab out of the way of an oncoming taxi. His hip broke against the pavement, and the taxi stopped inches from running him over. A crowd gathered. Gustad asked the taxi driver to take him to Khodadad Building, where Jimmy insisted Gustad be taken to the bonesetter. Jimmy carried Gustad from the cab to the treatment room and stayed by his side. “What would I have done without Jimmy by my side,” Gustad thinks. “He was always there when needed” (60).

Gustad wakes up where he sits with dry eyes and an empty glass. He gets up in search of writing paper, thinking of his gratitude for Jimmy Bilimoria. If it hadn’t been for Jimmy, Gustad could have ended up a cripple like Tehmul. He finds an ink pen and fills it, thinking how much nicer it is in his hand than a cheap ballpoint pen. He muses that no one uses ink pens anymore, not even in schools. Traditions are vanishing along with respect for those who value them. Gustad writes a letter. Suddenly the power comes back on and the room is too bright. Gustad turns off the electric lights and finishes his letter by the glow of the kerosene lamp.

Dilnavaz wakes up in the morning thinking of Gustad and Sohrab. Miss Kutpitia calls her upstairs to tell her she is also worried about Sohrab. He reminds her of her nephew Farad, whom she helped raise until he was killed in a car accident 35 years ago when he was 15. Miss Kutpitia tells Dilnavaz that someone must have fed Sohrab bad food or drink to make him change his mind about going to IIT. Dilnavaz says she can’t think of anyone who would wish Sohrab ill. Even though Sohrab may have been cursed by accident, Miss Kutpitia tells Dilnavaz she knows a cure involving a lime. She explains the ritual to Dilnavaz.

Downstairs, Sohrab finds his father’s old ink pen and wonders “why his father had been using that fossil” (64). Sohrab is a naturally gifted student, winning academic prizes and trophies. “Gustad and Dilnavaz were convinced their son was very special” (65). His only failure was his experiment with collecting insects. After winning a book called Learning About Entomology, he began catching and mounting butterflies and moths. When the insects fell apart and were consumed by maggots inside the display case, Sohrab abandoned the project and turned his mind to mechanical interests. Now, wiping the nib of his father’s ink pen, Sohrab remembers his father showing it to him when he was younger and the start of his father’s plans for him to attend IIT.

Seeing the letters on his father’s desk, Sohrab reads them both then asks his mother if she’s seen the letter from Major Bilimoria. When Gustad gets up, Dilnavaz wants to know why he hid the letter, and they briefly argue. Sohrab chimes in that he thinks Gustad’s response to the major was the correct one. He wonders aloud if Jimmy is plotting against the current “corrupt government” (68). One of Sohrab’s friend told him about Indira Gandhi giving a car manufacturing license to her son.

Gustad replies angrily, “College friend! Filling your head with rubbish and idiotic-lunatic talk. Be grateful this is a democracy” (69). When Gustad leaves the table to find an envelope for his letter to Jimmy, Dilnavaz leads Sohrab to the kitchen to perform Miss Kutpitia’s ritual with the lime, saying, “It’s not going to hurt, just makes your brain healthy” (69). Sohrab lets her inscribe circles over his head with the lime, then look hard at it. Miss Kutpitia has instructed Dilnavaz that the lime cannot be thrown out with the trash but must be tossed into the sea instead. Performing the ritual over Sohrab, Dilnavaz feels Miss Kutpitia’s wisdom.

At the bank Dinshawji reassures Gustad that he need not feel embarrassed about the fighting during the birthday dinner. Gustad decides not to eat lunch and sends his tiffin box back to Dilnavaz untouched.

Ordinarily, lunchtime is the highlight of the workday. Dinshawji is known for his funny stories and jokes, while Gustad leads the men in singing songs. Dinshawji is also known for carrying his sandwiches to work in his briefcase instead of having a tiffin box delivered from home. Today, Gustad takes a walk instead of eating, and Dinshawji offers to join him.

As they leave, they pass a new employee, Laurie Coutino, an attractive woman, and Dinshawji jokes about being attracted to her. He is known as the “Casanova of Flora Fountain” (72). As the two men walk into the bright sun, a lunch delivery man passes by, his sweat blowing on them in a gust of wind. Dinshawji recalls a train ride in which another lunch delivery man dripped sweat all over him. Dinshawji blames the political group Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist organization, for this antisocial behavior. The two men approach Flora Fountain and its hectic traffic roundabout. A pavement artist draws gods and goddesses on the sidewalk for coins. Gustad remarks that the fountain is always dry. Dinshawji says that the nationalists are changing street names in the city and that this makes him feel like his past is being erased. Gustad is surprised by his philosophical mood.

Suddenly, a man riding a motor scooter is hit by a car and tossed over his handlebars onto the road. A crowd rushes to the man’s aid. Dinshawji wants to help but Gustad is unable to move, stricken with nausea. Concluding Gustad’s symptoms are caused by a shock on an empty stomach, Dinshawji leads him to a nearby restaurant where Gustad confesses he knows the man who was hit by the car. It’s the taxi driver who drove Gustad home after his accident. Gustad is mortified that he was incapable of helping the man who had helped him. Dinshawji dismisses this, telling Gustad he’s not to blame for feeling sick. He distracts Gustad by asking about Major Bilimoria and speculating about whether there will be a war with Pakistan, where Bengalis are being killed in the east. The men agree that the United States is courting Pakistan’s favor to keep that country from allying itself with the Soviet Union. By the time Gustad and Dinshawji finish their snack and leave the restaurant, their lunch hour is nearly over. As they reenter the bank, Dinshawji makes more salacious remarks about Laurie Coutino.

Gustad returns home from work, warding off the flies and mosquitos from the black wall outside the Khodadad Building. Dilnavaz tells him she’s had a visit from Mr. Rabadi, a neighbor, complaining that Darius has been chasing after his daughter Jasmine. Gustad and Mr. Rabadi have had a contentious relationship since Mr. Rabadi’s dog, Tiger, regularly used Gustad’s vinca bush as a toilet. The two men quarreled regularly about Tiger’s deposits. Once, Gustad dumped a bucket of water out the window on Mr. Rabadi. Tiger eventually died, and Mr. Rabadi replaced him with a small white dog called Dimple. The feud continued even when Dimple showed no preference for Gustad’s vinca bush. When Darius comes in for dinner, Gustad tells him to stay away from Jasmine because “her father is a crackpot” (79). Flies and mosquitos from the black wall disrupt the family’s dinner. Before bed, they douse themselves with mosquito repellent.

Two weeks have passed since Gustad replied to Jimmy’s letter, and he has heard nothing in return. Roshan asks her father for one rupee to buy a raffle ticket at school. The nuns are raising money for both a new school building and the refugees fleeing East Pakistan. The raffle prize is a blue-eyed, Italian-made doll that’s as tall as Roshan and dressed in a wedding gown. Gustad gives Roshan the money.

Roshan asks, “Daddy, why is West Pakistan killing the people in East Pakistan?” (81). Gustad explains that East Pakistan is very poor, and when West Pakistan refused them aide, the people in the east said, “in that case we don’t want to work with you. So, as punishment, West Pakistan is killing and burning East Pakistan” (81).

Gustad goes through the mail and but there is still no letter from Jimmy. There is, however, an application for an educational scholarship. Gustad adds it to the pile of similar forms he has been collecting for Sohrab. Dilnavaz tries to reassure him. She has been performing the lime ritual but worries that it isn’t helping. The days go by without a response from Jimmy.

Swarms of mosquitos continue to plague the family. Gustad is frustrated by the fact that the black wall, dear to him for the privacy it affords them, has become a public toilet. To add to his troubles, the price of mosquito repellent has risen due to the new refugee tax. Roshan and Darius want to collect old newspapers for a school fundraising contest. The newspapers can be resold for the paper, and the money is designated for the refugees. Dilnavaz explains to the children that the only way they can afford a daily paper is to sell their old ones. Gustad agrees to give them some old issues of an Indian paper. Darius announces he wants the Times of India and will go to the neighbors to collect newspaper donations. Gustad thinks he won’t succeed but doesn’t mind him trying as long as he avoids both “that dogwalla idiot” and Miss Kutpitia (83).

A week later Dilnavaz hands Gustad a letter when he gets home. Thinking it’s from Jimmy, he is disappointed to discover it’s only a letter from the school informing them that Roshan has won the doll in the raffle. It’s too big for Roshan to carry home, and the nun asks Gustad to arrange to bring the doll home. Dilnavaz suggests calling the school to make the necessary arrangements. Miss Kutpitia is the only building resident with a telephone. For a small fee, other residents use her telephone but are never allowed in her apartment beyond the front entrance. There is speculation among the Khodadad Building residents about why they aren’t allowed in. Some people claim she keeps dead bodies inside, or perhaps merely the bones of the dead.

Gustad and Roshan walk across the courtyard, heading to Miss Kutpitia’s apartment, when they are stopped by Tehmul, carrying a stack of papers and a pen. He wants to talk to Gustad, who tells him to come back in half an hour and he will read the papers Tehmul is trying to show him. Gustad places his call, making arrangements to pick up the doll. Miss Kutpitia gives Roshan a pile of newspapers for her school fundraiser.

Back in the courtyard, they see that Tehmul has gone. An elderly resident, Cavasji, shouts discontented musings out the window to no one in particular. Gustad looks down at the top newspaper on the pile from Miss Kutpitia and sees it is dated 1945. He is amazed at the thought of someone keeping papers for so long.

The next day, Gustad arrives back at Khodadad Building in a taxi with Roshan’s doll. Tehmul accosts him as he is stepping out of the car, wanting Gustad’s help with the pile of papers he had the day before. Gustad is stern with him, wanting to know why he hadn’t returned later in the evening as instructed. Tehmul sees the doll and excitedly pleads with Gustad to let him touch it. Gustad refuses, saying, “Just looking is allowed” (88). Nevertheless, he lets Tehmul touch the doll’s fingers then her cheek. Tehmul is overcome and begins to cry. Gustad takes the doll inside and sets it in an armchair. Roshan is thrilled, but Gustad and Dilnavaz worry about what to do with the enormous doll. It’s too big to play with and it’s dressed in white, which will get dirty. Dilnavaz decides the doll should be stored on a bottom shelf, but it’s too big to fit with all its heavy clothes. They will have to undress the doll and store its clothes separately.

Tehmul rings the doorbell and asks to touch the doll again. Roshan refuses, but once again Gustad allows Tehmul to touch the doll. Then he asks Tehmul to show him the papers he’s carrying. These turn out to be copies of a petition from the building’s landlord to the city, protesting the city’s plan to widen the road, narrowing the compound. Dilnavaz undresses the doll and Tehmul watches, entranced. Gustad redirects his attention to the petition. Tehmul says the landlord gave it to him with instructions to collect signatures. Gustad tells him he must take a copy to each apartment and explain that all the tenants must read and sign the document. The mail arrives and Gustad is distracted by a letter with a New Delhi postmark. Tehmul leaves, staring longingly at the undressed doll. Gustad tells Dilnavaz that Jimmy’s letter has finally arrived. Before Gustad opens it, they pack the doll’s clothes in a suitcase, wrap its body in a sheet, and put it on the lowest cupboard shelf.

Gustad opens Major Bilimoria’s letter with his grandmother’s old ivory paper knife. He considers it an heirloom, fragile and precious. Jimmy writes that he is working for RAW, the Indian Secret Service. He confirms that the atrocities in Pakistan are really happening. Then he gives Gustad instructions for picking up the package at a sidewalk bookstall at an outdoor market, the Chor Bazaar. He will recognize a man there, and there will be a coded volume of Shakespeare in the stall to help him confirm he is in the right place. Once he has the parcel, he only needs to take it home and follow the instructions inside.

Dilnavaz asks if Jimmy is coming back. Gustad scoffs at this and shows her the letter. Sohrab comes in and Dilnavaz shows him the letter. Sohrab is surprised that Major Bilimoria has joined RAW. He says, “Our wonderful Prime Minister uses RAW like a private police force, to do all her dirty work” (93). He and Gustad argue about this briefly, Gustad expressing the belief that Jimmy is doing valiant work to help the people of East Pakistan. Then Gustad hands Sohrab the stack of scholarship application forms, telling him each one represents a place he went, cap in hand, to ask for help on Sohrab’s behalf. “Count the forms,” he says, “then throw them away” (94). Sohrab takes the envelopes and walks away. Gustad hears Sohrab toss them in the garbage pail. Dilnavaz pulls them out before they are soaked and ruined, hiding them with the green limes she’s collecting to throw into the sea.

Gustad meets with his boss to arrange a half-day on the upcoming Friday that is the appointed date to pick up Jimmy’s package. He exaggerates his limp and tells his boss, Mr. Madon, that the time off is for a doctor’s appointment. On his way back to his department, Gustad sees Dinshawji showing off and flirting at Laurie Coutino’s desk. The behavior is more flamboyant than Dinshawji’s usual clowning, and Gustad feels embarrassed for him. He intervenes, leading Dinshawji away from Laurie’s desk. Dinshawji notices Gustad limping more than usual and asks why. Gustad, in keeping with the lie he has told Mr. Madon, tells Dinshawji his hip hurts. When Gustad says he thinks Dinshawji’s lewd comments to Laurie are going too far, Dinshawji scoffs and teases Gustad that he wants Laurie for himself.

Gustad goes to the crowded Chor Bazaar. He sees a stall selling tools, and finds among the bits and pieces an old Meccano set. Instantly he is flooded with memories of being at this bazaar with his father and of the Meccano set he purchased for Gustad, out of which he made wonderful models, including a fire engine, a clock tower, and a working model of a drawbridge. Gustad continues moving through the bazaar toward the bookstall. He wonders what had happened to his childhood Meccano set and guesses it was lost with everything else belonging to his father when his father went bankrupt. The bankruptcy was especially tragic for not being Gustad’s father’s fault. He had needed surgery and before going under anesthesia, he had handed over the running of the business to Gustad’s uncle, a gambler with a drinking problem. When Gustad’s father came out of the hospital, the business, once a highly reputed bookstore, was ruined. His father was a broken man, and his mother died soon afterward.

Gustad locates a bookstall and, although it isn’t the one he is looking for, he haggles for and purchases three books he considers highly respectable, including the Great Dialogues of Plato. This bookseller directs him to another bookstall where Gustad finds The Complete Works of William Shakespeare that Jimmy mentioned in his letter. He’s in the right place.

Gustad looks up from the book and sees a man with a white turban watching him from the tea stall next door. As he steps forward, Gustad realizes it isn’t a turban on the man’s head but bandages. Gustad is stunned to realize it’s the man he saw run over by a car, the taxi driver who rescued him years ago. Gustad is overjoyed to see him and to have the chance to “thank [him] for [his] kindness” (104). He is amazed that this man, Ghulam Mohammed, is connected to Major Bilimoria, whom he calls “Bili Boy” (105). Gustad and Ghulam order tea, and Ghulam tells Gustad he knows Bili Boy from their old army days, and they both work for RAW now. Ghulam is forever loyal to Jimmy for saving his life in Kashmir in 1948. Gustad experiences a chill when Ghulam expresses his loyalty to Jimmy by saying, “Anyone who harms him, I will go after them, whatever it takes: knife, gun, my hands, my teeth” (105). Then he tells Gustad that the car that hit him on his motor scooter did so on purpose.

Ghulam gives Gustad the package from Jimmy, which is bulky and awkward, “the size of a large overnight bag” (106). Ghulam also lets Gustad have the volume of Shakespeare; “the price is your friendship” (106). While the book and package are wrapped up for Gustad to carry home, Ghulam tells Gustad that if he needs to reach him, he need only leave a message with the paan seller, Peerbhoy Paanwalla, outside the local brothel, the House of Cages. Gustad is familiar with Peerbhoy Paanwalla. When Gustad was a boy, he and his friends sometimes snuck away from school to listen to Peerbhoy Paanwalla’s stories. Gustad boards a bus with his oversized parcel, accidentally bumping into a woman passenger. When she berates him, he smiles and makes a gracious apology, still feeling joyful from his meeting with Ghulam. Tehmul greets Gustad in the courtyard at Khodadad Building. He offers to carry Gustad’s package and tells him to be very quiet. Roshan is sick and she is sleeping inside.

Dilnavaz has gone to see Miss Kutpitia to say she doesn’t think the ritual with the limes is helping Sohrab. Miss Kutpitia speculates that “the black spell has gone so deep and strong inside Sohrab, the lime cannot pull it out” (109). She tells Dilnavaz that instead of throwing the limes into the sea, she must juice them and have someone drink the juice. The spell will enter the person who drinks the lime juice. Dilnavaz expresses hesitation about making someone else suffer the bad spell. Miss Kutpitia tells her to give the juice to Tehmul. He’s already so damaged he won’t notice any difference. Dilnavaz goes back to her kitchen and prepares the first glass of lime juice. Just then, she hears the school bus and Roshan comes into the compound, looking very ill. She tells her mother she’s had several bouts of diarrhea. Roshan bends to smell the lime juice and Dilnavaz jumps up to take it away, horrified at the thought of Roshan drinking it. She sends Roshan to bed. Tehmul comes along and drinks the lime juice, finding it tasty. Dilnavaz says she’ll call him when she has more for him to drink.

Gustad tells Dilnavaz about meeting Ghulam at the tea stall. She shakes her head when he unwraps the books he has brought home, worrying that they have no place to put them. She fusses at him for drinking tea from a roadside stand. This reminds Gustad about Roshan and he asks Dilnavaz what’s wrong with their daughter. She tells him Roshan had a bad stomach ache and that she gave her some medicine. Gustad approves and says they’ll resort to stronger medicine if Roshan isn’t better the next day. He has a ready supply of pills, even though Dilnavaz would prefer taking their children to see Dr. Paymaster, their family physician. Over time, however, Dilnavaz has noticed that Dr. Paymaster gives out the same prescriptions over and over. After that she was content with Gustad’s approach and saved doctor’s visits for more extreme situations. She became so confident in Gustad’s pills she began recommending them to everyone in the Khodadad Building.

Going to get a knife to open Major Bilimoria’s package, Gustad sees Tehmul waving at him from outside. He wants Gustad to be first sign the landlord’s petition. Gustad signs, passes the paper back out the window to Tehmul, and returns to opening the taped package. Inside he finds stacks of money, hundred-rupee notes bundled in bands of paper. Gustad and Dilnavaz gape in surprise, staring at the money. Then Gustad notices that Tehmul is also gaping at the money through the window. Coming quickly to his senses, Gustad slams the window shut.

Gustad rushes outside to confront Tehmul. Tehmul sees the pocket knife Gustad still carries and cowers in fear. Reassuring him, Gustad tells him the money is a secret: “Tell no one what you saw” (117). He gives Tehmul a small payment for keeping quiet. Then Gustad threatens Tehmul. If he talks about the money, Gustad will cut his throat with the knife. Gustad feels sorry about scaring Tehmul but thinks it was the only way to get him to comply.

Reentering the apartment, Gustad discovers Dilnavaz repacking the money “to send it back before there is any trouble” (119). Gustad calculates how much money is in the package. It’s one million rupees. Dilnavaz continues to urge Gustad to send it back. He searches through the bundle, saying, “Jimmy said there would be a letter” (119). Finding the letter, Gustad and Dilnavaz read it together. The letter reassures Gustad that the money is government money that Jimmy is in charge of. He asks Gustad to deposit it in a savings account at his bank under the name Mira Obili. Jimmy explains his secrecy by writing that there are some in the government who would like to see his operation fail.

After reading the letter, Dilnavaz still wants Gustad to send the money back. Gustad believes Jimmy is trying to help the Bengalis being killed in Pakistan. Gustad also feels obligated to help, having given Jimmy his word in his letter. Dilnavaz says he could lose his job, then makes various gestures “to ward off the bad vibrations of that possibility” (120). They agree to send the money back. Gustad can’t risk his job. Sohrab enters the apartment and points out that the name Mira Obili is an anagram of Bilimoria. Sohrab suggest that if it’s government money, perhaps they should use it to fix the things government is supposed to fix, like the sewers and water tanks. Gustad slaps Sohrab’s face. Hurt and confused, Sohrab turns to his mother to say, “What’s the matter with him these days? I just made a joke!” (121). He leaves the room visibly upset. As he continues repacking the money, Gustad mutters his disapproval and disappointment in Sohrab’s turning down admission to IIT. Dilnavaz silently reminds herself that the lime juice will work. Everything will be as it should. As it’s already too late in the day for Gustad to take the money back to Chor Bazaar, Dilnavaz asks if he will take it the next Friday. Gustad tells her Ghulam planned to leave Bombay for a week. In the meantime, the couple decide to store the money in the coal storage bin in the kitchen.

Darius comes home from cricket practice. The mosquitos are bad, and Gustad tells Darius to shut the door quickly so no more insects get in the house. Darius has two bundles of newspapers for the fundraiser and, when Gustad asks, he admits he got them from Jasmine. Gustad is furious and he shouts at Darius before quickly becoming distracted by the mosquitos. Then, while recalling the wonderful mosquito nets at a resort he went to as a child, Gustad has an idea. He asks Dilnavaz to find the biggest dish they have. He places the dish on the dining table, directly under the light bulb. He fills the dish with water and when the water grows still, it perfectly reflects the light bulb. The mosquitos, attracted to this reflected lightbulb, dive into the water and drown. This, Gustad tells them, is how the resort manager did it in the fancy hotel.

Pleased with his solution, Gustad is ready for dinner, but Sohrab refuses to come to the table. Two days later, Sohrab packs a bag and leaves home, telling his mother he’s going to stay with some college friends. Dilnavaz weeps and pleads with him. He tells her that his return “depends on Daddy” (126). When Dilnavaz tells Gustad that Sohrab has left, he hides his hurt feelings and pretends indifference.