Swan asks why
Anish speaks English so well and tells him to eat more
cake. Anish calls her “very wicked” and insists that “
We [Indians] were the Romans!” because India was far more advanced than England for thousands of years. She asks if Anish is returning to India, but he explains that he lives in England and is married to an English woman he met in art school. Swan finds this charming, until Anish explains that his wife was a model—not a painter. He explains that he paints “deconstructive” paintings now, and she calls it “a shame.” He asks if he can sketch her, “to close one of [life’s] many circles.” She calls this reasoning “very east of Suez,” but agrees.