![]() They conduct tests on animals and dispose of their bones in a ravine. People with dog bites are taken there for treatment. He tells her that it is the Pasteur Institute and that they make 'serum' for mad dogs. ![]() Raka questions Ram Lal about the factory as he makes tea. Raka begins to explore her new environment and finds it full of things she hasn't seen, like a factory or the club. They embrace each other with a lack of warmth. When Raka finally arrives at Carignano, Nanda Kaul cannot help but compare her to an insect because of her sickly figure and round, protruding eyes. ![]() She is also anxious that her privacy will be disturbed. The day Ram Lal leaves to fetch the child, Nanda Kaul wonders if she will be expected to find ways to entertain Raka. The two agree that potato chips are universally liked by children. She has blocked the memories or jettisoned things that she thought were too painful or unnecessary now that she is not among people. She discusses with Ram Lal what to cook for Raka. These were wearying, and she had only been alone during her walks on the lawn in the evening. She thinks of the time when she served as wife to the Vice-Chancellor of a school and had multiple responsibilities. She becomes excited upon hearing about Raka, but Nanda Kaul makes excuses to keep her away. Nanda Kaul receives a call from Ila Das, a former friend with an obnoxious, high-pitched voice. It pains her that this will all be disrupted by a needy child. She hated this life and was eternally grateful to be living in the solitude at Carignano. Nanda Kaul was herself a wife to a stern husband and had spent her life taking care of little children. Raka needs to recover outside of the heat and humidity of Bombay otherwise, Asha would take her herself. Raka has just recovered from typhoid but her depressed mother, Tara, is going to Geneva to try to work things out with her cruel and abusive husband, a diplomat. The letter is from Asha, her frivolous and self-centered daughter, who is asking her to keep Raka, Nanda Kaul's great-granddaughter, for some time. The postman hands Nanda Kaul a letter, to great chagrin. The postman and Ram Lal, Nanda Kaul’s cook, run into each other and decide to go together up to the house. The postman recalls the traumatic history of all the English people (mostly “maiden women”) living here before Independence. She is annoyed that he might bring some bad news. Nanda Kaul is relaxing at Carignano, her clean and spare house on a hilltop in Kasauli, when she sees postman coming up the winding road.
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