Summary

This chapter opens in the first person from an unidentified perspective (later revealed to be named Biplab Dasgupta). He is in Delhi, waiting to be certified fit for service, though he longs to return to Kabul. He visits a house he once bought in Delhi and checks on his tenants. He notices that the number of cars parked around the building has grown. He watches servants walking smart-looking dogs and an interracial, gay couple walk past. He observes that in comparison to Kabul, this part of Delhi is “like a small corner of Paradise” (151).

He discovers that his second-floor tenant has left, a woman that he has known for 30 years. They met in 1984, when they were performing in a college play called “Norman, Is That You?” The narrator of this chapter was playing the part of Garson Hobart, and his classmate...