Bombay is presented as a possible destination for Rosie and Banerjee’s departure, and as the city from which Khoka Chatterjee traces their situation. It matters less as a described setting than as a place linked to flight, family intervention, and the prospect of Rosie’s return to the Shahjahan.

A Destination in Rosie’s Plans

Rosie later explains that she had considered marrying Banerjee and leaving with him. Rumors had cast their departure for Bombay as a flight motivated by money, but Rosie denies taking money from him. She also says Banerjee had lied about being unmarried, and that the two had stayed in separate hotels before leaving; she could not visit his room because hotel rules forbade it. Bombay thus enters the account as the intended destination of a disputed departure, not as a place the narrative depicts directly.

Traced from Bombay

The prospect of Rosie’s return reaches the narrator through Byron. Mrs. Banerjee has received news from her husband, while Khoka Chatterjee, Banerjee’s brother in Bombay, has followed the trail using an address Byron sent. Khoka’s admonitions help bring Banerjee back to family life, and he also manages to appease Rosie. The chain of information connects Bombay to events unfolding elsewhere: an address sent by Byron allows relatives to intervene in a separation.

The Expected Return

With Banerjee already on his way back, Byron reasons that Rosie is likely to return too, particularly given the circumstances in Bombay. The news unsettles the narrator, who is not prepared for the possibility that Rosie will come back. Byron immediately turns to the practical consequence for him: whether another job will be available. Bombay therefore marks a turning point in the hotel’s staffing prospects as well as in Rosie and Banerjee’s interrupted departure, though the passage presents her return as an expectation rather than a confirmed outcome.