CHAPTER 71

Summary

• The chapter is set in 1974, in Madras, and revolves around Mariamma, who is grieving the death of her father.
• Mariamma receives an unopened letter from her father, making her feel as though he is still alive.
• Her father's body was held in the morgue, where she discovers him under a rubber sheet and insists that there had been a mistake.
• She talks to her deceased father's body, questioning why he decided to get on a train, knowing she was on her way home.
• Mariamma's close friend, Uma Ramasamy, who was helping at the morgue tells her that her father's knee was shattered and he had a deep laceration to his left flank. Mariamma does not wish to see these injuries.
• Mariamma shares a secret about her family with Uma, who agrees to help her with it.
• Later, in her hostel room, Mariamma opens the letter from her father where he mentions being on his way to see her.
• Upon returning home with her father's body, Mariamma and Anna Chedethi, the last surviving member of her family, mourn together.
• At her father's funeral, Mariamma carries a secret that no one knows: her father's body in the casket is hollow with all its viscera removed to perform an autopsy.
• Mariamma realizes that she has transitioned to adulthood as her parents are no longer alive.
• She expresses her grief and gratitude to the people who supported her and her father at the funeral.