Summary

Gauri dreams of Udayan as he was in Tollygunge before his death. Prisons swell with people dragged from their homes or off campuses; confessions extracted using cigarettes, hot wax and even metal rods. She sees Udayan in his 20s like she last saw him while in her dream, she is 56, her current age, but he doesn't seem to notice.

At first, she fears that either Subhash or Bela will show up but in 20 years, that hasn’t happened. No one called her to come back, and she’d been given what she wanted – freedom. Gauri travels from one job to another, going from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, but then returns to southern California. The school is small and well run, but impossible for her to remain anonymous at. She is expected not only to teach, but to mentor her students...