Summary

In the relatively brief Part Four, Balu relaxes into a life of leisure, taking long naps, sleeping in and returning late. He gains weight. Margayya, concerned, decides to marry him off and makes his accountant, Sastri, act as the matchmaker. Margayya finally settles on marrying Balu off to Brinda, the 17-year-old daughter of a tea-estate owner in the Mempi Hills. Though not a large estate it yields more than 10,000 rupees per year. Margayya hires an astrologer to predict the success of the marriage, and when the astrologer does not predict good things, disregards his advice: "He had made up his mind that he was going to take no nonsense from the planets, and that he was going to tell them how to dispose their position in order to meet his requirement" (355). However, the astrologer is resistant and Dr. Pal helps Margayya...