The Lowland: Part 7, Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Gauri arrives back in Calcutta—which is called Kolkata now, to reflect the Bengali pronunciation of the city’s name. Gauri’s taxi winds through the busy streets, which are more populous and more developed than when she left. Additionally, it is Durga Pujo—the city’s most anticipated festival—and so people and vendors line the streets. Temporary structures built to honor the goddess Durga have cropped up everywhere, and Gauri sees Durga as “a daughter visiting her family,” coming down to the city to transform it for a time.

When Gauri had arrived in London earlier, she didn’t leave the airport. She went to the booking office and scheduled a flight to India without emailing the organizers of her conference to explain why she’d be absent. Nothing matters to her now, after the things Bela said to her in Providence. Now, Gauri arrives at the guesthouse where she’ll be staying after many days of travel and asks the caretaker to arrange a driver for her at eight the next morning. 

Gauri wakes early the next morning, before the sun is up. She showers, dresses, and makes tea, and at seven a maid named Abha arrives. Abha and Gauri chat. At eight, Gauri’s driver arrives, and she gets in his taxi. She instructs him to take her to her old neighborhood—she is looking for Manash. At Manash’s old flat, she finds his family, but not him—he is visiting one of his other sons. Manash’s family calls him using a cell phone, and Gauri speaks to her brother for the first time in years. Manash asks Gauri to wait for him to return to Kolkata and asks about Bela—Gauri assures Manash that he will meet her someday, though she knows this is a lie.

Gauri gets back in her hired car and asks the driver to take her to Tollygunge. Once in the neighborhood, Gauri gives her driver money for tea and exits the car, telling him it will only be a short visit. She walks past the mosque and down the lane until she comes to the house in which she once believed she’d grow old with Udayan. The house has been renovated, and the courtyard with Udayan’s footprints in it no longer exists. Gauri walks past the house, toward the two ponds and the lowland, only to find that both ponds are gone—new homes have been built over the lowland. She wonders if anyone else on the street remembers the lowland, and considers stopping someone to ask them, but does not. She looks out on the new block of houses, remembering Udayan’s death.

Gauri shamefully recalls her involvement in Nirmal Dey’s death—the death which marked Udayan as a target. No one knows what Gauri has done—she is “the sole guardian of her guilt.” Gauri remembers what Bela said to her about her being “nothing.” Now, as she looks out on what used to be the lowland, she feels a new solidarity with Udayan—“the bond of not existing.”

Back at the guesthouse, Gauri has a dream of Udayan—she remembers, in sleep, the night before the police came for him. Udayan had told Gauri that he could never become a father—not after what he had done—but would not tell Gauri what his crime was. He regretted aloud not having met Gauri sooner, and then held her hand as dawn rose around them. 

The next morning, Gauri wakes up and steps out onto the balcony off her bedroom. She watches the dawn, and the empty roads. Gauri approaches the edge of the balcony, feeling “a clarity [and] an urge” rising up inside of her. She feels the purpose of her visit to India has been to die here and imagines what it would be like to throw herself off the balcony. Gauri thinks of the woman who found Kanu Sanyal when he hung himself, and wonders who would find her. She begins taking stock of the images that have haunted her over the years: her betrayal of Bela, her part in the conspiracy against Nirmal Dey, her first meeting with Udayan. Gauri shuts her eyes, recalling the thrill of loving Udayan, the pain of losing him, and the fury of realizing how he had implicated her in his misdeeds. Gauri opens her eyes, expecting to see Udayan, but he is not there.

Gauri continues to watch the street fill with people as morning begins. Abha approaches the inn, shouting up from the street to ask if there is anything Gauri needs. Gauri replies that she needs nothing. She knows at the end of the week, she will leave Kolkata and return to her life.

Several months later, Gauri is back in California. She receives a letter from Rhode Island. It is written in English and accompanied by a drawing Meghna made. As Gauri begins reading the letter, she sees that it is from Bela. The letter states that Meghna often asks about Gauri—Bela has not told her daughter the truth, but tells Gauri that one day, she will explain their family’s whole story. If, once Meghna learns the truth, she wants to have a relationship with Gauri, Bela will be “willing to facilitate” one. Maybe, Bela writes at the letter’s end, when she and Meghna are both ready, Bela and Gauri can try to meet once again.