Summary

In Chapter 14, Baba and Minni are at home alone for the first time ever. Sanjay often climbed a rickety ladder to the roof because “he felt like a king” when he looked out over the ocean. Minni seldom climbed the ladder because it just felt scary. She thinks about Ma urging her to grow up, and climbs the ladder. She is happy that she conquered the fear but does not stay. Shanti became a teacher at the community center after her husband and daughter died in an accident years earlier. Minni and Shanti discuss the seven lakes that provide water for the area. Shanti talks about a desalination factory that will make ocean water drinkable. Minni refers to Shanti's story about the marshy land that now makes up Mumbai. In that story, “the ground wasn't as strong as we thought it was” (60). Minni...