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Gita Patel
Pi’s father and the head of the Pondicherry Zoo. He once ran a hotel but then switched to zookeeping because of his love of animals. Santosh teaches Pi and Ravi his knowledge about zookeeping, but also to respect and fear wild animals. Santosh was raised a Hindu but is not religious, and he questions Pi’s religious devotion.
Santosh Patel Quotes in Life of Pi
The Life of Pi quotes below are all either spoken by Santosh Patel or refer to Santosh Patel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 23 Quotes
The pandit spoke first. “Mr. Patel, Piscine’s piety is admirable. In these troubled times it’s good to see a boy so keen on God. We all agree on that.” The imam and the priest nodded. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose…”
“Hmmm, Piscine?” Mother nudged me. “How do you feel about the question?”
“Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God,” I blurted out, and looked down, red in the face.
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Santosh Patel Character Timeline in Life of Pi
The timeline below shows where the character Santosh Patel appears in Life of Pi. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...to share Mamaji’s love for the water and for the meditative practice of swimming. Pi’s father never wanted to swim himself, but he came to idealize the world of swimming. Mamaji’s...
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Chapter 4
Pi’s father ran the Pondicherry Zoo, which was founded soon after Pondicherry entered the Union of India...
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Chapter 8
One day Pi’s father decided to show Pi and his older brother Ravi about the dangers of wild animals....
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Chapter 9
...this by providing good shelter, food and water, and personal attention. Pi says that his father was a natural zookeeper.
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Chapter 23
...was just trying to love God. The religious leaders were embarrassed by this, and Pi’s father took advantage of their silence to hurry the family off to get ice cream.
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Chapter 29
...troubles at first, as his world consisted of the zoo’s daily routines, but soon Pi’s father came to worry about the zoo’s future.
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Chapter 48
...hunter gave to the cub, which was Thirsty (with the family name “None Given”). Pi’s father was so amused by this that he officially kept the tiger cub’s name as Richard...
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