The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

Back in Shimla, Nimmi is managing the Healing Garden in Lakshmi’s absence. She and her children remain at the Kumar house, but Nimmi is nervous about being left alone in the house on the evenings when the doctor works late. She still fears that the gold smugglers might come looking for her. One night, she hears a noise outside and finds the herder who has been pasturing Vinnay’s flock of sheep for her. She gives him money for a few more days but wonders how he knew where to find her. He says that word gets around. This frightens her even more. When Jay returns, Nimmi announces that she and her children must go into hiding. Jay says that he knows of a nearby place where they’ll be safe.

Two days have now passed, and Lakshmi frets that she and Malik haven’t come up yet with the evidence they need to clear Manu. Lakshmi goes to the palace to visit the dowager maharani, who is now old, sick, and using a wheelchair: “The old queen is smaller, shrunken, her cheeks are hollow. Before, she seemed to fill the room with her bawdy jokes and gin-infused laughter” (303). Twelve years earlier, Maharani Indira took a liking to Lakshmi and was so captivated by Malik that she gave him her talking parakeet, Madho Singh, who still lives in the Kumar house.

During her visit, Lakshmi offers to paint the dowager’s hands with henna, which delights her. Later, they share a drink, and Lakshmi explains the theater construction problem. She treads carefully because Samir Singh is a particular favorite of the dowager, and Parvati Singh is related to the royal family. Lakshmi places the blame on Ravi and says, “All I can gather is that Ravi wants to strike out on his own. As you said, he comes from a wealthy family, but none of the wealth belongs to him, per se. Perhaps he wants something all his own” (312). Lakshmi suggests that the maharanis should both visit the scene of the accident and inspect the building materials for themselves. That afternoon at Kanta’s, Lakshmi receives a call from Jay. He has moved Nimmi and her children to a nearby convent for safety. The police have raided Canara Private Enterprises, and it has been shut down.

The following day, the dowager and the young maharani arrive at the theater. Malik credits his Auntie-Boss with persuading the royals to make this personal inspection. The dowager is happy to see Malik, and he notes the surprise on the haughty faces of Sheela and Ravi at this warm greeting.

Once everyone is taken to the site of the balcony collapse, Malik is dismayed to see that the columns have been completely replaced and all the repairs have been made. Samir says, “We weren’t aware that you would want to see the column in its original state. We’ve been following an aggressive reconstruction schedule. The final plaster went up yesterday” (320).

The dowager is unfazed by this maneuver. She sweetly requests that one of the other support columns should be torn down to see what material was used in its construction. Malik thinks, “We won a victory, of sorts, today. If the other columns have been constructed with substandard materials, we will get what we came for. We may save Manu’s job yet” (323).

Later, Malik gets the chance to call Nimmi at the convent. She seems disappointed when he says that Lakshmi will decide when he can come home. Sensing her worry, he blurts out the words “I love you” and reassures Nimmi that they’ll be together again soon.

The next day Lakshmi gets some good news from Jay. The police not only shut down Canara but also raided Chandigarh Ironworks. The paper trail connecting Ravi to the smugglers isn’t clean, so making a case will be hard, but the other culprits are in jail. This means that Nimmi can come out of hiding and return to Shimla.

Later, Lakshmi sits in a car watching Niki’s cricket game, keeping her distance to prevent “gossip-eaters” from noticing the unusual green eyes that she shares with her biological nephew Niki. During the game, Samir slips into the back seat of Lakshmi’s vehicle. He admits that he knows Niki is his grandson because the boy looks so much like Ravi at the same age. Samir also confides that he’s shutting down his company even though no one has publicly accused him of any wrongdoing. The original story of oversold tickets will stand as the reason for the collapse. For the present, all of Ravi’s smuggling money will go toward rebuilding the theater because Samir wants to retire with his reputation intact. He intends to make a clean start in the US by selling real estate in Los Angeles. Ravi and Sheela will join the rest of the Singh family there.

Once Manu’s job is reinstated, everyone celebrates. Malik says that he’s ready to go back to Shimla, and Lakshmi doesn’t object. She tells him, “In your time here you learned enough about the business to know when something isn’t right. Why else did I want you to come?” (335). In addition, Lakshmi admits that Nimmi was right and that it’s time for Auntie-Boss to let Malik decide his own life. He tells her that he wants to marry Nimmi when he gets back home: “Nimmi and I don’t belong. Not truly. To one set of beliefs, one set of traditions. But we can create our own traditions. Observe those we like, abandon those we don’t” (337).

Malik proposes turning the Healing Garden into a teaching center where regional herbalists can come to learn their craft. Once the center expands, the extra money it brings in can help the local community clinic. Malik believes they can raise the money for the expansion from people like Moti-Lal and the maharanis. Before they leave Jaipur, Malik and Lakshmi pay one final visit to the dowager maharani. They bring along a gift of her favorite drink, a bottle of Beefeater Gin.

In July 1969, Lakshmi and her family are back together in Shimla. Radha has come for a visit along with her husband and two daughters. They’ve arrived to celebrate Malik and Nimmi’s wedding, which will be a simple civil ceremony. In honor of the occasion, Lakshmi paints the bride’s hands with henna. After the wedding, Lakshmi surveys all she has created here with satisfaction:

I look around the garden, lush and magical, and see all I’ve nurtured: Malik and Radha, as dear to me as my own life. Their spouses and their children. Two generations of possibilities, of hope, surrounded by the blue evening, surrounded by us (345-46).