Chapter 12 Summary

The narrator leaves his bungalow at the guesthouse and goes to the temple town of Mahadeo. He wanders through the bazaar, realizing that it is a lifestyle that he is not part of but he is fascinated by the energy and diversity in the markets.

He recounts a story about one particular woman he met in this town when she dropped a glass painting. He went to help her pick up the glass and he was shocked at her ugliness when he saw her face. She says that he was not the first person to be alarmed at her looks and she tells him that she is there on a pilgrimage – a musician's pilgrimage, not a religious one. She says that her teacher - her father - was a genius and he shared his knowledge only twice: once with her and one other...