The Glass Palace

Bela helps to raise Jaya with Rajkumar, who takes her to a small temple where Calcutta’s Burmese population gathers. One day, the Second Princess visits the temple. She spots Rajkumar, who introduces Jaya. Every year, they honor the dead family members in a small shrine in the house. Kishan Singh is also commemorated in the ceremony. Dinu’s image is absent from the shrine; his fate is still unsure.

Burmese politics is fraught with conflict. A communist uprising is followed by a military coup in 1962. Aged 17, Jaya marries a doctor ten years her senior. Two years after the birth of their son, the doctor is killed in a train accident. Moving back with Bela, Jaya studies at a college and becomes a teacher and, when her son moves abroad to study, she completes a PhD on the history of Indian photography. In 1996, while traveling to Goa, she happens upon a photography exhibition and sees a photograph of Dolly and Rajkumar’s wedding at the home of the collector. She re-routes her journey, stopping in Ratnagiri along the way. When she arrives, Ratnagiri is no longer a small town but a bustling city. She visits sites from her family’s past.

When she returns to Calcutta, Jaya searches through the documents Uma bequeathed in her will. She begins to assemble information to write a biography of Uma but spends her time thinking of Rajkumar. She follows the Burmese fight for democracy from afar. When searching through an old file, she finds a photograph credited to U Tun Pe–Dinu’s Burmese name. Through Bela, she reaches out to Ilongo over the internet and, eventually, flies out to Malaysia. Morningside is now owned by a co-operative organization founded by Ilongo.

At Morningside is a huge archive of Dinu’s photographs. Ilongo provides an old contact address and scraps of information. Dinu had been a political activist and has married a writer. Ilongo says that Dinu now lives above his photography studio, which is named The Glass Palace.

Jaya travels to Rangoon, now named Yangon, and finds Dinu’s studio. When she enters, Dinu is inside, delivering a lecture on photography. He spies her at the rear of the room and approaches. Speaking his Indian name, Jaya reveals their relationship. After spending some time with Dinu, she leaves and he tells her to return the next day, when he will tell her everything. 

Dinu leaves Malaysia shortly after Alison’s death. He reaches Rangoon in 1942 and finds it under Japanese occupation. In an attempt to find his family, he then travels to Huay Zedi but finds the village almost deserted, though he does find Doh Say and Raymond, who explain what happened with Dinu’s parents and Manju. He meets Kishan while attempting to protect the village from Indian forces in the jungle. Kishan brings Arjun to Dinu and the two meet in a clearing. Arjun is gravely injured and a husk of his former self.

Only half of Arjun’s unit remain; the rest have deserted. Their numbers are drawn from professional soldiers and volunteers, all of whom fought for the Indian National Army. Most of the deserters are former professionals, while many of the volunteers have never been to the India they are fighting to free. Even Kishan tries to desert and Arjun insists on holding a court martial for his batman, trying to buy time in spite of the volunteers’ scorn. Kishan is found guilty and sentenced to death; Arjun is to fire the shot himself. The volunteers watch as Arjun executes Kishan. Doh Say moves his village back to Huay Zedi. Raymond delivers the news of Arjun’s death to him. By the time he dies, the volunteer force has deserted him.

When Burma is about to gain independence, Doh Say decides to leave Huay Zedi. With most of the village and Dinu, they move to a place near the border with Thailand, worried what will happen to ethnic minorities following independence. Dinu returns to photography.

Dolly finds Dinu after a long search. He photographs her and she urges him to write to Rajkumar. Dinu escorts Dolly to a nunnery in Sagiang, where she hopes to see out her last days. She is met by Evelyn and given a saffron robe. When Dinu returns in a year, he learns that Dolly has died.

Doh Say dies in 1955, prompting Dinu’s decision to return to Rangoon. He builds a studio–the Glass Palace–and earns a reputation as a skilled photographer, regularly visited by the Fourth Princess. He marries his assistant, a girl named Ma Thin Thin Aye, and they live quiet lives under the dictatorship. They become politically active and she is killed during a protest.

Dinu takes Jaya to visit the house of Aung San Suu Kyi, placed under house arrest by the military dictatorship. Ten thousand people have gathered to listen to her speak. Dine admits his admiration for Aung San Suu Kyi and Jaya can understand why. 

Dinu accompanies Jaya to the airport. She tells him of Rajkumar’s final days. Uma had died a few weeks before; both were almost ninety years old. Rajkumar finds Uma’s body and she is given a state funeral. A month later, Rajkumar dies of a heart attack. Dinu weeps upon hearing the story of his father’s death. To stop him crying, Jaya tells Dinu a story of Rajkumar: one day, she found Rajkumar asleep in Uma’s bed. Both were naked and their dentures set aside. Both sets of dentures had become entangled, something Rajkumar had not noticed when he placed his false teeth in his mouth. Uma leaned forward and fastened her mouth on the extra set of dentures. As their mouths touched, they closed their eyes. Jaya remembers that it was the first time she had seen a kiss.

This moment of unexpected tenderness, she decides, is where she must end her book.