Summary

In the final section of the novel, Ma secures the forged passports and visas that will allow her, Dadu, and Mishti to leave the drowning city. At the photocopy shop, she collects the documents, noticing how convincingly they mimic the originals and briefly feeling pity for the forger who imagines leaving but believes that “the forger cannot forge his own papers” (187). While she prepares for departure, Baba phones from America, worrying about Dadu’s health and urging Ma to rest before the long journey, even as she conceals the truth of Dadu’s condition to spare him worry (187–188).

A short interlude shifts to “Baba’s America,” describing his life in a small, beige-carpeted studio. His new country is defined by unfamiliar language, quiet neighborhoods, and changing climates: vegetables wither in once-fertile fields, and new diseases appear in people who have not traveled abroad...