The Hungry Tide

Kanai and Horen spend the night near the island. They will have to return to Lusibari at daybreak. Kanai is worried, but Horen tells him that if Fokir wanted to return to the island, he could. He is staying out with Piya because he loves her—just as Horen loved Kusum. Horen reveals that he spent his life trying to protect Kusum, but let Nirmal think he was in control of the situation. When Nirmal was writing in his journal, wondering where Kusum and Horen had gone off to, they were in the boat, having sex.

When Piya awakes, the wind is picking up. As the hours pass, Fokir at the oars, aiming for the island, “the dark stain in the sky seemed to spread faster and faster” (304). The waves grow larger, and eventually the boat’s plywood edges begin to break. She ties her equipment to the hood with a rope, feeling the “boat groaning as if it were going to come apart at any minute” (306). They reach the island, but Kanai and Horen are not there.