Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Later that day, Sampath’s family inquires with the local police to investigate his sudden disappearance. The neighbors gossip about this, and after one full day of Sampath having seemingly vanished off the face of the earth, the watchman of the nearby university research forest spreads the news that someone had climbed a tree in the old orchard outside of town, and hasn’t descended. Correctly assuming that a person this crazy must be Sampath, the family takes a bus to the outskirts of town to look for him in the orchard. When, after a while of searching, they find Sampath in his guava tree, he wonders what he might say to defend himself, but ends up saying nothing as his family urges him to come down.

While Mr. Chawla, Ammaji, and Pinky tell Sampath to get down from the tree and stop this foolishness, Kulfi quietly recalls her own past, and her own feelings of being trapped and unable to escape. She feels she understands why her son is up in a tree, and knows that this is where he must belong. She tells Mr. Chawla to “let him be,” but Mr. Chawla refuses to allow his son’s behavior to continue, insisting that only monkeys climb trees, and that he’s the only person in the family with any sense. Meanwhile, Sampath holds tight to the branches of the tree, still silently refusing to descend.

Believing that something must be wrong with Sampath, the family enlists the help of the local Dr. Banerjee, who agrees to climb the tree to give Sampath a check-up when Sampath refuses to come down. After examining the young man, Dr. Banerjee can only shrug and admit that Sampath is physically fine but mentally crazy, and nothing can be done about that. Next, the family tries getting help from other doctors, who prescribe homeopathic remedies that seem to have no effect on Sampath’s behavior. Finally, they ask a holy man near the local deer park for help. They tell him that their son has gone insane and describe his behavior, but the holy man rules out insanity as an explanation, instead suggesting that they arrange a marriage for Sampath to solve this problem.

The family eventually finds a prospective bride for Sampath. The young woman arrives on a bus along with a group of singing pilgrims heading home from a visit to the nearby Krishna temple. These passengers happily agree to take the young lady directly to her husband-to-be up in the tree. As the group approaches, offering the girl in front of them like a gift, Sampath looks down at her and remembers fantasizing about the girl on the bottle of hair-oil in his bathroom. He feels hot and nervous as the crowd urges the girl to climb the tree and meet Sampath. Uncomfortable in the tree and unsure of what to do when she reaches Sampath, the girl lightly touches him, causing him to jump in fright and her to tumble back down to the ground in surprise.

As the pilgrims fan the poor girl with a leafy branch and remark on how inauspicious these circumstances are for marriage, Mr. Chawla throws up his hands in exasperation. He wonders aloud what he’s going to do with Sampath, remembering how he himself had been Sampath’s age when he was married. Kulfi’s family had wanted to marry her off as quickly as possible, as they feared her odd behavior would only continue, and that they would have to take care of her for the rest of her life. When they learned that Ammaji was looking for a wife for her son, they offered her a valuable dowry along with Kulfi. Mr. Chawla had protested, not wishing to be wed to a woman who seemed so abnormal. But secretly, he had been attracted to her and happy to fulfil his role as the responsible and level-headed man of the family.

Nonetheless, Mr. Chawla continues ranting about how he can possibly be expected to properly raise a boy who insists on living in a tree. The pilgrims agree with the sentiment and look up to Sampath to see how his father’s frustration is affecting him. Still uncomfortable around people, Sampath wants to shoo everyone away, but holds back this urge. He reflects on his post office days and recognizes some familiar faces in the crowd below. He calls out to one man, asking if the man’s jewelry is still buried under the tulsi plant. Shocked, the man asks how Sampath could know about that secret information. Sampath only knows because of the private letters he’d idly read during his post office days. But rather than admitting this, he continues asking members of the amazed crowd about matters they believed to be private.

Astounded by all the intimate knowledge Sampath somehow possesses, the crowd returns to Shahkot to spread the news of what they’ve heard. Surely Sampath is something greater than a normal man, to know all the things that he knows. Later that week, Mr. Chawla reads a local news story to the rest of the family. The story describes a mere post-office clerk who had climbed a tree, and who has since demonstrated a spiritual gift and incredible wisdom. Through this short story, Sampath is introduced to the world as something akin to a holy man.