The Museum of Failures

Remy delays his return to the US, enjoying his mother’s company for the first time. As Shirin gets better, he asks her why she stopped talking suddenly. Shirin reveals that speech gradually fell away, as she didn’t have anything left to say or anyone in her life worthy of talking to.

Gulnaz takes Remy to the fire temple again. Shirin wonders how Gulnaz is allowed inside, as she is married to a non-Parsi, a Muslim man. When Remy points out that he married a non-Parsi, too, Shirin dismisses this, stating that the rules are different for men. Remy asks his mother if she wants to visit the fire temple; she reminds him that she stopped going years ago and only offers her prayers at home.

Remembering his mother’s devoutness, Remy decides to bring her the prayer book she keeps in her cupboard. As he reaches for it, a passport-sized photograph falls out of a boy who looks exceptionally like Remy: “[T]he picture was a grotesque version of himself, his arms twisted, his mouth deformed” (190). Shirin’s handwriting on the back spells “Cyloo C. Wadia, age 6” (190), dated 1986.

Shaken, Remy takes the photograph to Shirin, demanding an explanation. She initially refuses, claiming that it is better for Remy to hate her rather than “him,” whom Remy understands to mean his father. Eventually, she capitulates and reveals that the boy is Remy’s older brother, also named Cyrus, whom they called “Cyloo.”

The novel shifts back in time to a year after Cyrus and Shirin were wed. Cyrus is transferred to Jamshedpur. Although Shirin is initially reluctant to leave the city of Bombay, she eventually settles well into her new life. The couple are further overjoyed when they discover that Shirin is pregnant, and they eagerly await the arrival of their baby.

While the original plan is for Shirin to travel back to Bombay for the birth, she goes into labor early and is forced to deliver at a local hospital in Jamshedpur. However, the birth is complicated: The umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck, depriving him of oxygen and necessitating a forceps delivery.

When Shirin awakens after the birth and asks for her baby, Cyrus refers to their son as “it.” He and the doctor initially don’t want her to meet the baby, claiming that the parting will be more difficult. However, the moment she lays eyes on her son, she exclaims that he is beautiful. She sees Cyrus flinch at this, and to punish him, she decides to name their son after him.

Cyrus finds it difficult to bond with his son. He hires a nanny, Rita, on whom Shirin comes to depend as a substitute for Cyrus as she, too, takes loving care of Cyloo. Shirin’s father, Framrose, who is a surgeon, comes to visit. She overhears him tell Cyrus that they have had bad luck with their firstborn and should have another son soon, and she is heartbroken that everyone thinks that her son is a burden. Later, she confronts Cyrus about whether he loves his son; he claims that he is not sure, as Cyloo’s condition is still a shock, especially with all the hopes he had for his firstborn. Shirin decides to give Cyrus time to get to know and love his son; in the meantime, she will protect and defend Cyloo with all she has.

Shirin’s second pregnancy comes as a surprise, and this time, Cyrus ensures that she receives the best medical care. She moves back to her father’s place in Bombay in the seventh month, with Cyrus joining her there for the birth. Labor and birth with Remy are as easy as Cyloo’s were difficult. However, Shirin finds it difficult to watch Cyrus fall instantly in love with his second son while avoiding his firstborn. Cyrus chooses the name Remy after the owner of the inn that he and Shirin stayed at in Toulouse during their honeymoon.

When Remy turns one, Cyrus throws him a grand birthday party at the prestigious United Club in Jamshedpur. However, he decides that it will be better for Cyloo to stay home with Rita so that he and Shirin can enjoy the evening and allow Remy to be the center of attention. Shirin is resentful of this decision the entire night, especially as she watches Cyrus show Remy off to the same people he stopped inviting home after Cyloo’s birth. On the drive home, Cyrus confronts her about her sullenness all evening and accuses her of forgetting how to be a wife in the process of becoming a mother.

Things between Shirin and Cyrus settle into an equilibrium over the first couple of years after Remy’s birth. Shirin continues with physiotherapy for Cyloo as prescribed, and it works to some extent: Shirin finds Cyloo playing with Remy one day, trying to pick up a block. The physiotherapist thinks it is a good idea for Cyloo to play with Remy to help his own development. However, one day when Shirin and Rita’s attention wanders from the boys, Cyloo bites Remy on the cheek and draws blood. Suddenly overcome with rage at her younger son’s pain, Shirin beats Cyloo until Remy yells at her to stop hitting his brother. As a remorseful Shirin cleans up Remy’s wound, he thanks her for loving him so much.

Cyrus is furious when he hears what happened, but Shirin manages to calm him down. However, Remy develops a fever that worries Cyrus, despite the doctor’s reassurances. While Remy is recovering, Dina visits. Shirin knows of her husband and Dina’s romantic past but also knows that nothing but friendship persists between them in the present. At dinner, Dina insists that everyone, including Cyloo, eat dinner together. She pays equal attention to both Remy and Cyloo, and this warms Shirin’s heart.

Cyrus gets a promotion that comes with a transfer back to Bombay. A few days before their move, Cyloo kicks Remy in the stomach while they are playing. Shirin consoles Remy even as he tearfully wonders whether his brother is a monster. Although Shirin doesn’t tell Cyrus about the incident, Cyrus finds out and is furious. Shirin asserts that the two are children and that there is nothing she could do to prevent normal fights between the brothers.

Upon the Wadias’ arrival at the Bombay airport, they are greeted by a woman dressed like a nun. A confused Shirin watches Cyrus drive off in a different car with Cyloo and the woman, assuring Shirin that she should head to their new house with Remy.

When Cyrus arrives home later, he breaks the news to an outraged and distraught Shirin that he has admitted Cyloo into a home for children with disabilities where he will be adequately cared for. Shirin first threatens to leave Cyrus and take Remy with her and then begs him to bring Cyloo back, but Cyrus is unrelenting. He asserts that Shirin has no legal recourse, as he would never allow a divorce or give Remy up. He also reveals that Shirin’s father was in on the plan, claiming that this is the only way Remy and their family will have a normal life. Shirin questions what semblance of family they have left.

In the present, Remy asks his mother where Cyloo is now. Shirin directs him to ask “that witch” Dina how she killed Shirin’s son.

Remy arrives at Dina’s place without a warning. He shows her Cyloo’s picture and demands to know the truth. Dina asserts that she always disagreed with Cyrus about him keeping the truth from Remy. She reveals that shortly before their transfer to Bombay, Cyrus visited her and asked to see the Catholic orphanage for which she sometimes did pro bono work. When he later told her the real reason for his interest in the place, Dina initially refused to help; however, she eventually relented because Cyrus really believed that he was saving Remy’s life.

On the way home from Dina’s, Remy accidentally walks into one of the men sleeping on the sidewalk. He gets caught in a brawl until one of the others calls the group off, stating that he is related to Dina. Scared and disillusioned, Remy walks around the city for a while, trying to process everything he has learned. He stops at a restaurant to wash up and eat and drink something; as he catches sight of his reflection, he remembers the entire tale again and begins to cry.

Remy imagines Cyrus speaking to him, apologizing for everything that has happened. Cyrus tried to tell Remy the truth many times but always stopped short, afraid that it would wipe out his son’s love. He was intent on sending Remy to the US to get him away from the toxic family environment at home.

In Remy’s imagination, Cyrus asks Remy to not blame the women, especially Shirin; he acknowledges that his actions directly contributed to fueling Shirin’s bitterness and anger over the years. He also acknowledges that part of the reason for sending Cyloo away was that Cyrus was ashamed of him. He didn’t want news of a son in Cyloo’s condition tainting his own professional reputation.

The Cyrus of Remy’s imagination urges Remy to go home and spend with Shirin whatever time she has left. He also asks Remy to leave all these memories behind when he eventually returns to the US and raise his son as an American boy: “Because the only way to destroy the museum of failures is to burn every shameful secret that it has ever held” (242).

Manju lets Remy in when he returns home late at night. In the morning, as Remy waits for Shirin to wake up, he chats with Manju about her family. Manju marvels at how, in the US, Remy must be used to speaking with people like her as equals. Remy tries to tell her that he, too, worked for other people for many years before achieving what he has, but Manju doesn’t quite believe him. She bemoans the casteist and communal violence that often happens in India, believing that things must be far better in the US.

After Shirin wakes up, Remy runs out for a quick errand: He gets the photograph of Cyloo framed so that Shirin can place it on her dresser. When he presents her with the surprise, Shirin responds that she needs a double frame so that she can have both of her sons beside her.

While Remy is napping, Shirin reflects on how much she will miss Remy when he returns to the US soon. She knows how exhausting it must have been for him to grow up with such a volatile mother, but Shirin herself often felt torn between her love for Cyrus and her anger toward him. There were many times when she wanted to tell Remy the truth about Cyloo growing up or even jog his memory about the brother he eventually forgot; however, she knew how much Remy loved Cyrus and didn’t want to poison that relationship. She fought with Cyrus when she realized that he was planning on sending Remy to the US, but she came to realize how happy Remy was there, especially because he found a wonderful partner in Kathy.

When Remy wakes up, Shirin tells him the rest of the story. For months after their move to Bombay, she didn’t know where Cyloo was; Cyrus and Framrose refused to tell her anything, despite her begging. One day, she overheard Cyrus mention a check to Dina for Cyloo. Shirin immediately headed to Dina’s office and made a scene, demanding to know where her son was. Dina calmed Shirin down and proceeded to take her to the home immediately, as she believed that Shirin had a right to know.