23-05-23 Chapter 31 They met once, Mr. and Mr. Kumar, the baker and the teacher. The first Mr. Kumar had expressed the wish to see the zoo. All these years and Ive never seen it. Its so close by, too. Will you show it to me? he asked. Yes, of course, I repli...

23-05-16 Chapter 30 Hes married. I am bent down, taking my shoes off, when I hear him say, I would like you to meet my wife. I look up and there beside him is... Mrs. Patel. Hello, she says, extending her hand and smiling. Piscine has been telling me lots ab...

23-05-16 Chapter 29 Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything theyve known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? Why climb this Mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? Why enter this jungle of foreignness where...

23-05-16 Chapter 28 I loved my prayer rug. Ordinary in quality though it was, it glowed with beauty in my eyes. Im sorry I lost it. Wherever I laid it I felt special affection for the patch of ground beneath it and the immediate surroundings, which to me is...

23-05-16 Chapter 27 Later that evening I overheard my parents speaking. You said yes? said Father. I believe he asked you too. You referred him to me, replied Mother. Did I? You did. I had a very busy day... Youre not busy now. Youre quite comfortably unempl...

23-05-16 Chapter 26 A few days after the meeting on the esplanade, I took my courage into my hands and went to see Father at his office. Father? Yes, Piscine. I would like to be baptized and I would like a prayer rug. My words intruded slowly. He looked up f...

23-05-16 Chapter 25 And that wasnt the end of it. There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by le...

23-05-16 Chapter 24 Ravi had a field day of it when he found out. So, Swami Jesus, will you go on the hajj this year? he said, bringing the palms of his hands together in front of his face in a reverent namaskar. Does Mecca beckon? He crossed himself. Or wil...

23-05-16 Chapter 23 Alas the sense of community that a common faith brings to a people spelled trouble for me. In time, my religious doings went from the notice of those to whom it didnt matter and only amused, to that of those to whom it did matter - and th...

23-05-16 Chapter 22 I can well imagine an atheists last words: White, white! L-L-Love! My God! - and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to ex...