A Bend in the River: Chapter 6  Summary & Analysis

No longer harried by the rebellion, the town flourishes, much as Father Huismans predicted. The economic boom benefits Salim as the town at the bend in the river becomes a diverse center for trade once more. Government departments revive and new projects begin in the town—buses, taxis, telephone wires—far more than was necessary for the town, but the Big Man insists upon the industry and sophistication. In a similar way, Salim begins dealing in agencies, trading in tools and items he hardly understands, but benefits from regardless. Salim sees the town much like the one he had imagined from Nazruddin’s stories.

Mahesh cycles through various get-rich-quick schemes, seized by an entrepreneurial spirit which is only encouraged by the economic boom. First trying nameplates, then flat wood spoons for ice cream, Mahesh feverishly searches for some modern, proprietary invention that will allow him to corner a market all to himself. But these ventures are mostly failures, and before too long Mahesh begins smuggling ivory and gold.

The occupying force uses intimidation and clout to poach and loot freely, and while Salim is put off by their crookedness, Mahesh greedily engages in the lucrative business. Salim even begrudgingly helps him, burying gold and ivory to help with various drops. Mahesh skirts real trouble after a local general steals a “piece” of uranium and tries to fence it through Mahesh, who foolishly tries to sell it through a local consul. Salim thinks the general was duped himself, understanding the stuff vaguely from his magazines, and luckily the Big Man reassigns him before anything bad comes about.

While also enjoying the boom himself, Salim is restless. Although he knows it all so well, Salim feels disconnected from the town and most of its people. While he might have always planned to just pass through on his way to bigger things, Salim wonders where else he could even go. Salim learns of an uprising in Uganda, where Nazruddin currently has his cotton-ginning business. Ultimately, nothing comes of the rebellion, and life there returns to normal. However, the situation in Uganda reminds Salim of the cyclical nature of trouble in Africa—how during days of fear he had felt the spirits and the forest alive and tense, and how simple they all seem now, in peace. . There is nothing he can do but carry on.

Success comes for Mahesh, but in a surprising form. Mahesh ceases smuggling and opens a branch of the BigBurger franchise in town. They make their house servant, Idlephonse, the manager, and Salim watches him perform enthusiasm and pride in front of Shoba and Mahesh, only to go completely vacant whenever he watches the store on his own. The Big Man claims a large tract of bush next to the town and begins to level it and build, calling the new development The Domain of the State. The Domain springs up incredibly quickly, with countless contractors, though no statement is made as to the purpose of it, leading Salim to believe it is another project of the Big Man to create a “modern Africa,” as urbane and advanced as the rest of the modern world.

The Domain is something of a façade. Buildings spring up in sleek, modern designs with new but cheap materials, but other areas languish in partial completion. New pools are built but never filled, and building equipment is abandoned and left out to rust. Plans are created and scrapped mid-way through. Eventually, the Domain develops into something of a university town, with foreign lecturers and research centers. A new polytechnic institute is established in the Domain, and Salim learns Ferdinand will be attending on a scholarship from the government, rekindling his jealousy of the boy’s education. His envy of Ferdinand, alongside the stark contrast between his meager existence in town and the contemporary, sophisticated appointment of The Domain, complete with imported ornamental trees and all-glass structures, causes him to detest the place.

While Ferdinand becomes preoccupied in the Domain, Metty also seems distracted to Salim. Metty had become a man about town in recent years, fully integrated into the culture of the town and the locals. One day a woman comes looking for Metty at the shop, and Salim learns through her that Metty has a child somewhere in town. Salim feels disgusted by the idea of Metty having “a little African child running about,” and also deeply betrayed that he wouldn’t have told him. This fracture in their relationship seems to remind Salim of the home he has lost, and he wonders if he really has a home at all anymore, or if he will ever call a place home again.