In 1962, the narrator’s grandmother, a former schoolteacher who has just turned sixty, retires after twenty‑seven years at a girls’ high school in Calcutta. The school’s farewell ceremony is grand: representatives of the Calcutta Corporation, the Congress and the CPI attend, she is garlanded by every girl, and the head girl presents a marble Taj Mahal lamp. Overwhelmed, she begins to cry and cannot finish her speech, prompting the narrator’s jealousy as the other girls also weep. The staffroom surprise meal showcases dishes from across India, but a mishap with a dahi‑bara causes a girl to drop her plate and flee, ending the celebration.

Later that day, the grandmother clears out her office, bathing the room in the Taj’s glow, and tells humorous stories. Soon after, the narrator discovers a turbaned stranger in her grandmother’s room; his presence is explained away as part of an Ayurvedic hair‑oil treatment to prevent baldness. The grandmother’s health flutters, and she begins to visit her former school again, witnessing staff scandals and eventually being barred by the new headmistress. The father’s career surges: he is appointed General Manager of his firm, and the family moves to a large house on Southern Avenue opposite a lake. The narrator shows the new house to his grandmother, who feigns interest.

Grandmother’s presence retreats into her own large bedroom, and the narrator’s mother becomes the primary caretaker. He begins to ask his grandmother for homework help, devising tricks to keep her attention. Grandmother tells him stories of her childhood home in Dhaka, describing the original joint‑family house, the stern grandfather, the abusive Jethamoshai, and the eventual division of the house by a wooden wall that shattered family ties.

Meanwhile, May‑Price receives a thick, multi‑page letter from Tridib, which she hides and later reads, finding it pornographic and unsettling. She struggles with the content, confides briefly to her mother, and later that night is summoned to her bedroom by her own husband, Nick, after a rehearsal.

The family prepares for a trip to Dhaka after Mayadebi’s aunt informs them that the family’s old uncle is still alive in the old Dhaka house, now occupied by refugees. A relative named Minadi in the park informs the grandmother about the uncle’s situation. The narrator, his mother, and grandmother travel to Dhaka with a driver, Mrinmoyee, who leads them to a cramped, dilapidated building where the uncle’s widow lives. They meet the widow, learn that the uncle has died the previous year, and discuss possible arrangements. The grandmother decides to bring a sari for the widow’s husband’s wife, Saifuddin, a mechanic who runs a workshop in the old courtyard.

The narrator’s father arranges a flight to Dhaka; the family watches the plane’s take‑off from the airport, noting Grandmother’s emotional wave. The journey to the old house is arduous, passing through crowded, refugee‑filled streets, until they finally locate the house on a narrow lane. Grandmother, initially skeptical, finally recognises the place despite its altered state. The chapter ends with the family confronting the reality of the old house, the mechanic Saifuddin, and the unresolved duty to rescue the uncle’s memory, while the narrator reflects on the lingering bitterness and nostalgia that shape their lives.