Part 8 Section 25 Summary

The date is June 20th. The heat is particularly intense before the monsoons begin. By that time, all are too beaten down by the heat and dust to do more than simply accept the weather that comes. There are, additionally, compensations: the hotter the temperature, the sweeter the mangoes. The narrator and Inder Lal travel to Baba Firdau's shrine on the palace grounds for a picnic (she was last there when the grove was crowded with pilgrims on the "Husband's Wedding Day" festival). She and Inder Lal both tie red strings to the lattice around the shrine and make wishes. Although both are initially timid, they become lovers, in the grove as the sun sets.

Part 8 Section 25 Analysis

The narrator thinks her life too lacking in too many essentials to focus on a single simple wish. Having sex—at the...