Summary

Rahel is looking for something she hid in Pappachi’s neglected study. Estha comes in and tells him that she stole their home school notebooks from Ammu, after he was Returned. On one of Estha’s, he had rubbed out his last name and replaced it with “Unknown” because Ammu had been in the middle of deciding whether or not she would retain her ex-husband’s name. Rahel reads some of Estha’s notebook from when he was six years old. She reads his version of the story of Ulysses’ return from his long journey, disguised as a beggar. She also reads a passage where the child Estha had explained street safety. Rahel treats it all lightly, until she reaches a touching story titled “Little Ammu,” on the subject of Ammu’s birthday. Instead of praising Estha for his nice story about her...