The Lowland: Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Whenever Udayan is at Gauri’s house, studying and discussing communism with her brother Manash, Gauri stays on the balcony or in another room. One day, however, the houseboy is out on an errand, and Manash asks Gauri to make the two of them tea. Gauri brings the men their cups, and when she locks eyes with Udayan, the attraction between them is instantaneous—they both feel it.

Gauri and Udayan’s universities are next to one another, and Gauri often finds herself looking for him. Even at home, on the wide balcony that wraps around the two sides of her grandparents’ apartment, Gauri scans the people on the streets below for Udayan’s face. One day, Udayan joins Gauri on the balcony; Manash is out running errands. Gauri and Udayan begin talking, and Gauri tells Udayan that she has “observed the world” from this balcony for most of her life. She reads on the balcony, and even sleeps out there some nights.

Udayan notices that Gauri is reading Descartes and asks her about her studies in philosophy. Gauri enjoys says they help her understand the world, but Udayan believes that degrees have become meaningless in India. When Gauri points out that Udayan himself is enrolled in a degree program, he quickly changes the subject, and asks about Gauri’s family. She lives with Manash, their maternal grandparents, two uncles and their wives. Gauri explains that she moved around a lot as a child—her father was a district judge—but she came to live with her grandparents after her parents died in a car accident.

As Gauri tells Udayan her story, she realizes he is fascinated by the amount of autonomy she has had in her life, both as a result of how her parents raised her and as a consequence of their deaths. Udayan asks Gauri if she will miss her balcony when she marries and goes to live with her husband, but Gauri replies that she is never going to marry. Instead, she wants to teach philosophy. Udayan agrees, flirtatiously, that Gauri should never stop doing what she loves “for the sake of a man.” Udayan points to a home across the street and asks Gauri whether it would be “all right” to get married if the man lived just on the opposite corner. Gauri smiles coyly and laughs.

Gauri and Udayan run into each other all the time, and frequently meet at one another’s campuses. Udayan gives Gauri books, and she feels her mind “sharpening [and] focusing.” She enjoys thinking deeply about the things that matter to Udayan: individualism, freedom, and what Indian society might become. 

As Gauri and Udayan grow closer, Udayan is often pulled away because he suddenly has to be at a meeting, a study session, or a rally. He often talks about his desire to travel out to the villages, and asks Gauri if she would understand if one day he had to leave Tollygunge and go live among peasants. Gauri, aware that she is being tested, replies that she would understand. As Gauri spends more and more time with Udayan, she feels herself being swept up in his orbit, and questions the person she once was. She feels she is seeing herself more clearly with Udayan in her life.

One day, Gauri discovers a note in one of the books Udayan has lent her, asking her to meet him at a matinee at a cinema. The day of the matinee, Gauri hesitates, but eventually decides to go. She does not arrive until intermission; Udayan is outside, though, smoking a cigarette. As she approaches him, she expects him to be irritated with her, but instead sees only pleasure in his expression. She asks him what has happened so far in the film, and what she has missed; he replies that he does not know, because he has been outside the whole time, waiting for her.