Summary

Javed’s father, a salesman of textbooks, shows up to Javed’s apartment one day and enlists Manju’s help in moving about some textbooks. They talk, and Manju soon realizes that Javed quit cricket to prove a point to his “sweetly manipulative father” (245). Javed’s father no longer dares to tell Javed what to do ever since Javed’s brother killed himself. Meanwhile, Javed sits by himself at the mall, composing poems and wondering where Manju is, as they were supposed to meet at the mall that day. After Javed’s father leaves Javed’s apartment, Manju contemplates returning to Mumbai and to cricket, apparently somewhat shaken by his interaction with Javed’s father. In the Western Ghats, Radha works in the fields in the Kumars’ old village. Manju is able to contact Radha by calling the cell phone of an uncle...