The Lowland

In December, Subhash travels back to his home in Tollygunge. During the long journey of multiple flights and trains, he starts to learn about local news that was never broadcast in the United States. The Naxalite movement went underground, attacking public places, government officials and causing immense fear. This fear led the government to start searching without warrants and raiding neighborhoods.

Back in India, Subhash realizes how different his new life is in Rhode Island. At the busy train station, only two cousins greet him. He is reminded of the day he left India, when Udayan asked him to return home one day. As they approach his house, and the two ponds, he is overcome by the smells of the neighborhood, of his childhood. He walks past Udayan’s footprints and hits the buzzer, but “[h]is parents did not stand or say his name. They did not come downstairs to greet him” (90). Meeting his parents upstairs, he sees that grief has changed them, and he starts to cry when he sees Udayan’s photo.

Subhash goes for a walk in the neighborhood past the two ponds and visits Udayan’s memorial tablet. It is in the lowland, where the water would sometimes cover the memorial.