The Museum of Failures

Remy takes Pervez and Roshan out to dinner and brings up the issue of Shirin’s care. Pervez and Roshan are initially defensive about their past actions but eventually capitulate, acknowledging that their current life is only possible because of Remy. However, Roshan does point out that Remy didn’t visit a single time in the past three years, and Remy apologizes for this. Pervez marvels at the devotion that Remy is currently showing to Shirin, asserting that it is good to let the past go. Roshan offers to check in on Shirin at the hospital the next morning so that Remy can get some rest.

Monaz arrives at Remy’s apartment the next morning, heartbroken at Gaurav’s decision. Remy consoles her as best as he can, assuring her that he is still willing to adopt her child and encouraging her to talk to Shenaz and Jango. Jango calls shortly after Monaz leaves, relieved at the turn of events.

After leaving the hospital, Remy heads over to Jango and Shenaz’s again. They discuss Monaz’s situation and the stigma attached to unwed mothers in India. The conversation segues to social attitudes and the state of the country. Remy reflects on the recent wave of jingoism in both India and the US. The latter came as a shock, especially after the Obama years, during which Remy moved to the US.

A group of old friends arrive, invited over by Jango as a surprise for Remy. Remy basks in the familiarity and comfort of nostalgia but also the shared culture and ways of speaking within this group. He reflects on how he doesn’t have this in the US, even with his wife and mother-in-law; especially in the recent political climate, Remy knows that he will never completely fit in there. He reflects on how “[h]e w[ill] always be a foreigner in America, but the irony [i]s, he [i]s also a stranger in India” (106).

After dinner, Remy steps away to make a call and realizes that he has missed calls from Manju. When he calls her back, Manju informs him that Shirin’s condition has worsened. Remy apologizes and rushes back to the hospital, where he finds Shirin running a high fever. In the throes of delirium, she moans and calls out, “Cyrus, my Cyloo” (109). Remy is touched by the depth of his mother’s love for his father.

The resident doctor starts Shirin on a new antibiotic. As Shirin calms down, she recognizes Remy and calls out to him, moving him to tears. He spends the night next to Shirin in a chair and updates Kathy on the situation in the morning. She is sympathetic and urges him to stay a few extra days so that he has closure and no regrets when he returns.

Remy meets with Dr. Billimoria, who feels positive about the fever coming down. However, he reveals that Shirin met with him a year before her current hospitalization. Dr. Billimoria had advised her about nutrition and health even back then, but she just didn’t seem interested. Dr. Billimoria believes that she has no will to live because her only son wants nothing to do with her. He isn’t judging Remy but wants him to have the full picture.

Shirin is looking better when Remy returns to the hospital in the afternoon; to his amazement, she smiles at Remy and beckons for him to sit next to her. Monaz turns up at the hospital a little after lunch, which annoys Remy a little. He introduces her to Shirin as Shenaz’s niece and then steps out to speak to her. Monaz reveals that she has good news: She has made up her mind to let him and Kathy adopt her child. However, she has one condition: She wants Remy to take her with him to the US so that she can have her baby there and keep the pregnancy a secret.

Still reeling from Monaz’s request, Remy calls Dina, who greets him warmly on the phone. Remy asks to meet with her to review any changes needed for Shirin’s care, as well as to discuss another delicate matter; Dina invites him home for dinner that evening.

Remy arrives at Dina’s house. He marvels at the elegant and cultured space, wondering how different his life would have been if he had been brought up by Dina instead of Shirin. As Dina and Remy discuss some of the art in the house, Remy marvels at how similar Dina’s and Cyrus’s tastes are. Dina confesses that he was a huge influence on her. Remy wonders why they didn’t marry, and Dina reveals that Cyrus didn’t want her to go abroad to study. By the time she returned, Cyrus had already met and fallen in love with Shirin. Remy tells Dina about Shirin calling out for “Cyloo,” relieved that Shirin, too, had deeply loved Cyrus. However, Dina visibly stiffens when Remy mentions this.

Remy tells Dina about Monaz, the baby, and her condition. Monaz has a 10-year tourist visa, so traveling to the US is not a problem. Kathy was not thrilled on the phone about having to house Monaz, but Remy convinced her that it would be a good thing to get to know the mother of their child. Dina asserts that despite any contract that Monaz signs, if she changes her mind, no court will side against the mother.

Remy walks home after dinner, reflecting on how he will have to stay in India longer than he planned. He remembers the poetry he used to write as an art student; it all fell away from him when he changed careers after graduation. Remy wanted to be worthy of Kathy, who was an aspiring medical student, and moved from writing poetry to eventually running a successful advertising agency. For the first time in years, however, Remy feels the tug of the past and poetry again. Remy falls asleep that night dreaming of all the women in his life.

Remy is woken up by the doorbell and lets Hema in just as Kathy calls. He catches up with her, realizing that she is having a hard and stressful time there as well. She is worried about getting things ready in time for Monaz. Remy and Kathy commiserate about each other’s respective situations. Kathy asks if Remy will be back in time for his birthday, as she is organizing a party for him; Remy asserts that he will.

Remy feels much better after speaking to Kathy and remembers how his father always told him to choose a wife wisely. Remy thinks about his own parents’ marriage and how miserable they were. The worst were Saturdays: Shirin would visit a church in Bandra every morning—Cyrus forbade Remy from accompanying his mother—and would return in a terrible mood. Cyrus and Shirin would bicker the rest of the day about her leaving her son alone at home.

Remy remembers how he met Kathy for the first time at a friend’s birthday bash. He was drawn to her from the moment he first set his eyes upon her. Remy was drinking the terrible punch that Ralph, the birthday boy, had made for him, and Kathy subsequently warned him away from Ralph’s concoctions. Remy and Kathy continued to make small talk during the rest of the party. Later that night, Kathy made the first move and kissed Remy, further hinting that he ought to invite her over to his place; Remy promptly did so.

Remy gets ready and heads to the hospital, missing Kathy and home all the while. Manju informs him that Shirin is upset at Remy’s lateness and is demanding her Coke. Remy sends Manju to buy a few bottles and enters the room to a smiling Shirin. Remy marvels at the change in his mother and his own feelings toward her.

Shirin greets Remy good morning, and Remy is immediately transported to a happy childhood memory. Cyrus had taken the family on a weeklong holiday to Goa after Remy’s Navjote ceremony (an induction to Zoroastrianism). They went on a sunset cruise down the Mandovi river and watched Goan folk troupe dancers perform. Remy’s parents were happy and in-sync, with no trace of their usual bitterness. Remy slept in the next morning, and after he eventually woke up, Cyrus took him upstairs to the hotel’s restaurant. A waiting Shirin greeted him just as warmly and joyfully. Now, as Remy gets Shirin ready for the day, he tries to hold onto the warmth of the memory that Shirin’s greeting has triggered.

Kathy wants Remy to break the news about Monaz and the adoption to Shirin. Remy hesitates, unsure of how Shirin will react, and although Kathy is displeased, he asks her to leave him to it.

The next morning, Remy takes Shirin out onto the hospital grounds in a wheelchair and asks Monaz to meet them there. Monaz brings chicken patties with her, and to Remy’s surprise, Shirin eagerly accepts one. Shirin also instantly divines that Monaz is pregnant, and when Remy breaks the news about the adoption, she assures Monaz that Remy and Kathy will be good parents.

Shirin is surprised to learn that Monaz’s parents don’t know about the pregnancy. When Monaz asserts that they are quite conservative and wouldn’t accept her situation, Shirin invites Monaz to stay with her at the apartment any time she needs to. Remy suddenly realizes that Shirin is talking in complete and intelligible sentences. After Monaz leaves, Shirin tells Remy that she has had enough of the hospital; she wants to go home.