Pitaji dies the next spring when he is unexpectedly gored by a bull on his way to a friend's home. Mataji is so grief stricken that she attempts to throw herself on Pitaji's funeral pyre, but her children pull her back. Mataji's grief is so overwhelming that she shaves her head and sits in a corner while Jasmine tries to spoon-feed rice water to her mother.
The novel springs forward to a conversation Jasmine has with a friend in New York. Jasmine tries to explain the concept of reincarnation and the individual purpose assigned to each life. The friend chides Jasmine for being too modern for such beliefs, and Jasmine feels trapped between two cultures and two worlds.
Because of Pitaji's death, Jasmine's two brothers must return from their technical training.....
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