Sea of Poppies

Zachary has taken a room at the Watsongunge boarding house, which Burnham calls the most godless place on earth next to the North End of Boston; his own preferred house, a Christian mission house for sailors, has already been taken up by Crowle, and so Zachary uses the excuse of proximity to justify choosing a different location. Baboo Nob Kissin continually shows up unexpectedly for unconvincing reasons, leading Zachary to believe that Burnham is spying on him to ensure he isn’t doing anything untoward.

Late one evening, Jodu shows up to bring him to meet someone. After taking him to a boat, Zachary initially believes Serang Ali has sent him to set him up with a woman and is surprised to discover that it is Paulette in a sari. Paulette has come to request a favor from him. She explains that she needs to travel to Mauritius and requests arrangements to be made on the Ibis; she explains that she cannot ask Mr. Burnham, as Burnham is the reason for her departure. For some time, Burnham has been forcing her to participate in Bible study of a most unusual kind—their study is done in private, and following lessons, Burnham requires her to flog him. Recently, Burnham collapsed at one point and crawled out of the room; Paulette noticed a trail of something left behind, which one of the servants identified—in a roundabout manner—as semen. It was only then that Paulette realized that these sessions were sexual in nature and has since resolved to get away from Calcutta.

Jodu realizes what Paulette is asking and responds angrily. As they argue with one another in Bengali, Zachary is reminded of his mother’s description of the first time, at 14, that she was summoned to her master’s bedroom and forced to sleep with him. Nevertheless, Zachary is of the mind that no good would come of Paulette’s joining the ship, undercover or otherwise, and argues for her instead to find another way. Paulette promises that she will find a way to Mauritius, and when she does, she will laugh in their faces.

The inner part of Alipore Jail is controlled not by the British, but rather appears more like “an archipelago of fiefdoms, each with its own rules, rulers and ruled” (306). Neel is delivered into the custody of another convict, a jamadar (an Indian army officer) who was given power by the British overseers. At the end of the day, Neel’s case is presented before the group of jemadars to determine with whom he will be placed. However, because his penalty is transportation to Mauritius, it is determined that he should instead be placed with the only other prisoner in the ward who has been given the same sentence, a Chinese opium addict who is in the throes of withdrawal. After seeing the horrendous state of the cell and the man, Neel begs to be placed anywhere else. The jemadar tells him that he will need to learn to become like a brother to him: “You will have to make of him what you can; he is your fate, your destiny. Look in a mirror and you will know: you cannot escape what is written on your forehead” (310).

Though Paulette and Jodu continue to live together on his small boat, Paulette clearly blames Jodu for Zachary’s refusal. Paulette falls ill one day, so Jodu takes her to a family to the north of Calcutta who are friends of Mr. Lambert. Jodu promises to be back in a few months; at that point, they’ll figure out the next steps.

When the Ibis returns from dry dock, Jodu rushes on board; the other lascars are surprised to see him return and jibe him a bit. He and Rajoo decide to explore the ship while the lascars have the run of it; as the two look over the captain’s quarters, they dream of one day captaining their own ship. Upon their return, Mamdoo-tindal tries Jodu out as a foretopman, calling for him to join him on the foremast; Jodu succeeds, and gets the transfer he desired. As they joke high above the ship, Jodu realizes that the only thing “that could have made the joke still more enjoyable […] was if Paulette had been there to share it with him” (315).

Neel begins to notice that his cellmate operates on rhythms, and he begins to react and adjust accordingly. The most frustrating of these is not his anguish, but his incontinence, not least of all due to the elaborate rituals with which Neel was raised regarding these matters. Neel finally forces himself to pick up the jharu and begin cleaning the cell of his roommate’s excrement: “Once having started, Neel found himself to be possessed by a fury for the task” (317). Other convicts even begin to stop by to help, and Neel is invited to eat with another group, where he learns that some of the convicts have need of someone who can read and write, and he agrees to help them, bartering his services for needed goods.

The jemadar tells Neel that he’ll need to clean his cellmate next, now that he’s at his lowest point. He offers to send assistance, but Neel declines. Neel uses the supplies he’s gathered from letter-writing to clean his cellmate, who is unbelievably filthy and also much younger than Neel had initially believed. Once cleaned and shaved, Neel asks his cellmate his name in English; he doesn’t answer, but his reaction suggests that he understands the words, and Neel makes a habit of asking him the same question every day.

When Zachary returns to the Ibis, Crowle tells him that he thought that he’d have disappeared while docked. Following the exchange, they share only perfunctory greetings with one another; however, when Bhyro Singh boards as subedar of the ship, along with his guards, Crowle clearly knows him well. When Zachary asks about it, Crowle makes a snide remark about the company Zachary keeps. This puzzles Zachary until later, when Crowle sends away some local food and looks down upon Zachary for asking to keep it. It comes out that Crowle found out about Zachary’s dinner invite to the Burnhams’, suggesting that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Crowle threatens him and tells him directly that he should find other employment away from the Ibis. Zachary replies that he doesn’t intend to go anywhere. 

Once the rains pass, Paulette’s health improves rapidly and she decides to put a plan into motion to board the Ibis. First, she meets with Nob Kissin Baboo, aware that he is in charge of the passengers. At first, he refuses, but Paulette uses his desire to learn why Paulette left Bethel to her advantage, and he suggests a potential way for her to board, but warns her it may be difficult to pull off.

Though the city celebrates, the migrant camp remains silent. Onlookers jeer the migrants; sometimes they bait the migrants, promising to help them escape only to capture them and return them for a reward. One boy falls ill, but no one seems to care until he dies, which raises the suspicions of the migrants, who have been led to believe that they are going to have oil extracted from their brains. Finally, and without ceremony or warning, the day comes for them to depart.

In contrast, there was much celebrating of Diwali—the Hindu festival of lights—in Alipore Jail. Neel, however, cannot join in, as he can only think of the son he is leaving behind. Like the migrants, however, he is told unexpectedly and without ceremony that he will be transported the next morning, which he relays to his cellmate. He disappears into his thoughts, only to realize suddenly that his cellmate is embracing him. He tells him his name is Lei Leong Fatt, or Ah Fatt for short, and that he is Neel’s friend:

Those faltering, childlike words offered more comfort than was in all the poetry Neel had ever read, and more novelty too, because he had never before heard them said—and if he had, they would only have been wasted before, because he would not have been able to value them for their worth (335).

The date of departure is tied to a tidal phenomenon that sends massive waves, known as bore, up the waterways of Bengal. When the bore is set to approach, Crowle informs Zachary that there is an issue with the buoy and forces him to go out and fix it. Upon leaving, Zachary discovers that the gig is broken and taking on water quickly. Stuck in the river with the bore rapidly approaching, Jodu rushes out in another boat to lend him assistance; they make it to the buoy just in time to strap themselves down and ride out the wave.