The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Maali watches as his developed negatives, now printed photographs, are being placed in frames at the Arts Centre. DD is there, looking through photographs Maali took of pangolins. DD cries as he looks through the photographs Maali took of them together.

The Arts Centre creates a public gallery of Maali’s photographs. Maali reflects that “Your plan was to orchestrate this from exile; instead, you have staged it from beyond the grave” (306). DD also looks through the photographs Maali took of the men he’d been with, including Viran and Jonny. Enraged, DD grabs Viran and slaps him. Clarantha looks through the photographs and calls them beautiful. Though they were not taken for display purposes, he wants to display them as a sign that they won’t hide anymore.

Clarantha and Viran finish setting up the gallery. Clarantha advises Viran to hide away for a couple of weeks to avoid difficult interrogations over the gallery. Maali admires the exhibition, relieved that his life’s work and trauma are finally being released.

Maali is surprised when two ghost dogs talk to him. They ask him where the River of Births is. He gives them the instructions Dr. Ranee told him, but the directions are vague, and the dogs get annoyed.