Summary

In Chapter Twenty Ira gives birth to a baby boy. Rukmani is with her throughout the birth, and when the child is born, her heart sinks, for the baby is albino. Ira, perhaps out of strength or necessity, simply refers to the child as fair, and treats him with the love and affection due to any baby. Rukmani and Nathan are both devastated, wishing they had kept her from going into town to earn money as a prostitute. They look at it as punishment for the way in which the baby was conceived. Meanwhile, news of the baby traveled far and wide, and as more and more people came to see the baby, they finally decide to hold the traditional naming ceremony in order to get the visiting to cease. Ira names the child Sacrabani, and both she and Selvam immediately warm to the child...