Summary

The migrants see the shore of India for the last time. For many, there’s trepidation about crossing the Black Water, or the ocean. Fights break out. Deeti feels remorse that she will miss much of her daughter’s life. To quell her anxiety, Deeti starts singing. The other women join in, and the men stop fighting to listen. She sings a song of parting that women sing when brides leave their parents’ home. Neel recognizes the women’s singing in Bhojpuri, the language his servants spoke to him when he was little, and cannot resist the urge to use the tongue even though it is spoken by people of lower caste than him. He begins telling the other migrants stories about Lord Vishnu.

The Ibis is becalmed just as they try to leave and the migrants grow hot in the hull. They drink...