CHAPTER 70
Contains spoilersOverview
In Cochin, Philipose discovers an auction catalog featuring a stone sculpture that evokes Elsie’s work, reopening the possibility she is alive. Determined to confront the past, he sets out for Madras and writes to Mariamma. En route, his train plunges into a river; injured, he chooses to risk himself to save a drowning child, signaling a moral reckoning with water and his history.
Summary
In 1974 Cochin, Philipose stays at the Malabar Hotel to pursue a contrarian article on Robert Bristow’s port-engineering legacy and its ecological costs raised by a persistent biologist. As he dines and reflects on history, legacy, and Mariamma as his true “masterpiece,” he is gifted a quiet evening and a complimentary brandy.
Leaving dinner, he finds an auction catalog from a Madras estate. Its cover shows a rough-hewn stone woman on all fours, powerfully reminiscent of Elsie’s style. Reeling, Philipose considers that Elsie may have lived and continued to sculpt. He resolves to go to Madras, both for answers and amends, and writes to Mariamma to soften the shock of his unannounced arrival.
On the train, buoyed by fellow travelers’ banter, Philipose revisits memories and confesses inwardly to Elsie his regrets and growth. He steels himself to face Madras and the bridge that once terrified him, determined to apologize and accept whatever truth awaits.
A violent jolt shatters the night: the train derails off a trestle into a gorge river. Thrown into the water, Philipose surfaces injured, clinging to debris amid wreckage and fading cries. Spotting a child slipping under, he overcomes fear and pain, paddling toward the small, sinking figure. Certain at last of his duty, he draws a deep breath and commits to the rescue.
Who Appears
- Philipose
Journalist and father; discovers a catalog echoing Elsie’s art, resolves to go to Madras, survives a train plunge, and attempts to save a drowning child.
- Elsie
Absent wife and sculptor; a statue in a catalog suggests she may have lived and continued creating.
- Mariamma
Philipose’s daughter; recipient of his letter as he finally travels to Madras.
- Robert Bristow
Engineer who created Cochin’s deep-water harbor; subject of Philipose’s planned article and ecological scrutiny.
- Cranky biologist
Correspondent who urges Philipose to report ecological damage from Cochin’s harbor dredging.
- Drowning child
Unidentified passenger; prompts Philipose’s decisive attempt at rescue after the train disaster.