Lambreta Joins the Morning Prayer Singing by the Ganges

Lambreta’s morning encounter with a group singing beside the Ganges interrupts the tense expectation of his return to the hotel. Drawn into their devotional song despite understanding none of its words, he joins the singers, receives marigolds, and is escorted back to the Hotel Shahjahan. The episode turns an anticipated return to trouble into a small, unexpected passage of music and kindness, ending with two bouquets side by side in his room: one from the riverbank, the other from an admirer of Connie.

Return to the Rooftop

The episode begins with the narrator assuring Connie that Lambreta will return soon, while privately suspecting that his absence might be preferable: his return, the narrator thinks, will bring another commotion. That prediction seems to come true almost at once. Lambreta enters through the rooftop door, humming a song whose words neither the narrator nor Connie can identify. Connie asks what he is humming, and the narrator listens to the pronunciation and rhythm. The tune proves to be Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram.

The difference between the narrator’s expectation and Lambreta’s account gives the scene its turn. The narrator had anticipated the familiar disruption of Lambreta’s return; instead, Lambreta explains that he has come back from a morning encounter that moved him. His story takes the action away from the hotel rooftop and down to the river, where he had joined strangers in a devotional gathering.

The Song by the River

Lambreta says he reached the pavement beside the Ganges, near the Calcutta Swimming Club, where a group of people were singing. He describes them as kind and gentlemanly. He approached them and asked whether the song was for their girlfriends. They did not understand what he was saying. Their answer was that a song sung at that hour could be dedicated only to God, to Sitaram. One of the group, more able to speak English than the others, added that Sitaram too had a heart as sweet as a bride’s.

The exchange reveals how little Lambreta initially understands of the gathering, and how readily he is nevertheless caught up in it. He cannot follow the words, but the melody is enough: he makes room for himself on the ground, picks up the tune, claps its rhythm, and sings along. The pavement is not presented as a place arranged to welcome an outsider. The narrator notes the locals’ uncertainty about what to do with strangers: they do not want an unfamiliar person simply standing there, yet offering him a seat is not straightforward. Lambreta’s response is to sit among them and join the song.

Marigolds and an Escort Home

The singers treat Lambreta warmly. They offer him flowers, and he accepts the marigolds they give him. When they ask whether he will be able to find his way back alone, he insists that he can. They are less confident: one of them accompanies him to the gates of the Hotel Shahjahan, warning that Calcutta is a dangerous place. Lambreta returns carrying the flowers in his pocket and shows them to the people at the hotel.

The escort gives the encounter a practical ending without cancelling its welcome. The group has made room for Lambreta in its singing, offered him flowers, and then taken responsibility for getting him safely back. His account preserves both sides of the moment: the pleasure of being drawn into a song and the strangers’ concern about his journey through the city.

Two Bouquets

Back in his room, Lambreta continues humming the newly learned song and carefully places the marigolds on the table. Beside them lies a bouquet sent by a member of the audience who had been captivated by Connie’s beauty. Against the bright, carefully handled flowers from the river gathering, that earlier bouquet seems to lose its color.

The juxtaposition links the morning’s two kinds of attention to Connie and Lambreta. One bouquet comes from an admirer responding to Connie’s appearance; the other is a gift Lambreta receives through his spontaneous participation in the singers’ prayer. The scene does not turn the gifts into equivalents: their origins and circumstances remain distinct. Instead, their placement together lets the contrast speak. Lambreta’s story brings a shared song, an unexpected kindness, and the marigolds into the hotel room, where they stand beside the more personal attention directed at Connie.