The Henna Artist

During monsoon season, Lakshmi struggles to make ends meet as more clients cancel. One day, Parvati comes to her house. The latter admits that she knows her husband had sex with Lakshmi. Parvati offers to rescind the claims of theft and hands Lakshmi 10,000 rupees as the commission for brokering her son’s marriage. Lakshmi thinks, “I realized, now, that as long as I remained in her debt, Parvati owned me, which was exactly where she wanted me to be” (230). The henna artist refuses the money and sends Parvati away.

Lakshmi receives an urgent telegram to go see Kanta in Shimla. When she arrives, she discovers that her friend has miscarried and will never be able to have children. Meanwhile, Radha goes into labor and delivers a healthy baby boy.

Dr. Kumar cares for both patients. He tells Lakshmi that he has used the herbal remedies she suggested on the local inhabitants with much success since they prefer natural herbs to antibiotics. Kumar asks for Lakshmi’s help in starting a hospital herb garden. He also asks her to consult when he goes on his rounds with patients, and she recommends several acceptable alternatives to standard medicine.

Even though the doctor and Lakshmi agree that it’s best to keep the baby away from Radha so that she won’t become attached, she insists on seeing him. Afterward, she says she wants to keep him. Lakshmi retorts, “This isn’t one of your American films where the heroine does as she pleases. And you’re not Marilyn Monroe” (245).

Lakshmi goes to Kumar’s office to sign the paperwork for the palace adoption. Outside the window, she sees Kanta and her husband, Manu, consoling each other over the loss of their own child. Lakshmi decides to let them adopt Radha’s baby. Kumar agrees to fill out a report indicating that the baby has an enlarged heart. This flaw will invalidate the contract with the palace. Kanta, Manu, and Radha are overjoyed. Kumar is also happy because Lakshmi agrees to help him with his garden project via correspondence.

Back in Jaipur, Lakshmi’s fortunes take a severe downturn. She is barely getting by and needs to dodge creditors, and Malik points out that she can’t go on like this. She receives a letter from Kumar. He asks her to plan an extended stay in Shimla to help with the hospital garden. She would be paid for her services. Lakshmi thinks:

Jay Kumar was offering me a chance to heal, to work with people who wanted what I had to offer. Who believed my knowledge was sacred. It was a chance to do the work my saas taught me. She lived in me, still. I could make her proud once more. Be proud of myself again (266).

She realizes she must sell her house to finance the move and writes to ask Samir for help with the transaction. Much to her surprise, she receives a reply from Parvati, who wants to buy the house outright because of the beautiful floor tiles that Lakshmi designed.

Now that she has enough cash for the move, Lakshmi plans to set up in Shimla and take Malik with her. Radha will live with Kanta and her family. When Lakshmi goes to visit her sister, the latter admits that she is jealous of Kanta acting as the mother to her baby. Knowing that this situation isn’t good for anyone, Radha is willing to leave, too.

Two weeks later, the group is ready to go. Lakshmi is happy to turn her back on Jaipur: “I would leave behind the useless apologies for my disobedience. I would leave behind the yearning to rewrite my past” (272).

Lakshmi has bought first-class train tickets for the trip to Shimla. Once Malik, Radha, and she settle in their compartment, she notices Hari standing on the platform to say goodbye. He looks clean and respectable now. She says:

I had lived with Hari for only two years, but he had lived in my mind for half my life. By turns, I had feared him, been indifferent, felt contemptuous, full of hate or pity. Not once had I believed him capable of change. But if I could change, why couldn’t he? (279).

Lakshmi, Malik, and Radha watch the train make its approach to Shimla. Lakshmi rereads a letter from Kumar saying that he has found a house for them in town. Malik has already been enrolled in Kumar’s alma mater, and Samir has offered to pay for Radha’s education at the girl’s school. The local people show up at the train station to greet the new healer in town. They are grateful for the remedies she has already recommended to many of them. Lakshmi thinks, “A thousand miles from the tiny village where I’d started, I was finally home” (282-83).