Summary This story takes place in a shabby suburb in India. Rakesh, the son of a vegetable seller, triumphs in medical school and afterwards. He is a devoted son, bowing to his father, marrying the girl his parents choose, and becoming the director of his own clinic nearby. His father grows old, becomes a widower and begins to develop physical complaints and unpleasant habits, such as spitting forcibly. Still, his son tends him, and even decides to take over the man’s diet. He bans most foods his father likes because they are unhealthy; he fills him with medications that the old man does not want; he refuses to let his father die, even though this is finally the only thing the old man wants. At last, the old man refuses to take any more medicine. He lies down and demands that his son lets him go to God