The Henna Artist

Lakshmi meets with Samir at her house one evening. They have had a long-standing friendship ever since he found her decorating the bodies of courtesans with henna at a brothel in Agra and helped to set her up in business in Jaipur. Lakshmi enlists Samir’s help to get her builder to stop harassing her for payment. Samir thinks of another job to keep the man occupied for several months.

Lakshmi gives Samir a valuable tip by telling him that the maharajah wants him to act as the architect for a palace remodel. She encourages him to meet with Sharma, the building contractor. This is the man whose daughter Lakshmi is trying to match with Samir’s son.

Lakshmi and Radha work at a henna party in the Singh home before an evening gala that all the social elite will attend. Sheela is scheduled to sing, and her intended fiancé, Ravi, will play the lead in Othello. After the henna art is complete, Lakshmi, Radha, and Malik take some food to the roof, where they can watch all the performances. Radha is dazzled by the glittering spectacle. Later, Lakshmi crosses paths with Samir, who informs her that he has gained her an audience with the dowager maharani for the following morning. He also gives her a gold pocket watch specially designed for her.

As she is about to leave, Lakshmi is called into the library by a furious Parvati. Ravi’s stage makeup has been found on Radha’s face and arm. Lakshmi realizes that Parvati must have seen the private conversation between herself and Samir and that Parvati is jealous on two counts. The henna artist reassures her patron that there’s nothing to worry about. Back at home, Lakshmi tells Radha that she won’t be allowed to go to the palace to see the maharani. Lakshmi is fearful that Radha still doesn’t know how to act around city people or how to discourage upper-class boys from making passes.

Lakshmi and Malik set off for the palace the following morning. Radha is still angry because she has been forbidden to go. When Lakshmi arrives for her audience with the dowager Maharani Indira, she learns that Maharani Latika is suffering from depression because her eight-year-old son has been banished to boarding school. Lakshmi visits the young maharani to assess the situation. She spends an hour massaging the maharani’s limbs and applying acupressure. Afterward, she tells Maharani Indira that it could take several weeks to see any improvement. The fee she receives for a single treatment is as much as she could earn in a week. Once word travels that she is attending the maharani, demand for her services grows exponentially.

During her next appointment with Mrs. Sharma, Lakshmi finds out that the negotiation is proceeding for a match between Sheela Sharma and Ravi Singh. The only difficulty is that Sheela refuses to live with her in-laws. It will be up to Lakshmi to find an acceptable compromise. She thinks to herself, “But the Singhs and Sharmas weren’t going to haggle over money; satisfying their demands required finesse, creativity and more than a little luck” (130).

On her next visit to Kanta, Lakshmi is informed that her client is finally pregnant, thanks to her medicinal herbs. Radha has been Kanta’s constant companion and reads to her often. Kanta asks permission to take Radha to the cinema to see some American movies, which Lakshmi hesitantly permits.

Lakshmi continues her ministrations to the maharani for two weeks, and Latika begins to revive. The maharani is so grateful that she invites Lakshmi to send Radha to the maharani’s private school for girls free of charge. The dowager empress also expresses her thanks by referring Lakshmi’s services to her wealthy friends.

On the way home from the palace, Lakshmi and Malik are accosted by Hari. He asks for help for an injured little girl, the daughter of a prostitute. Even though Lakshmi thinks he may be lying, she gives him money for the girl’s medical treatment, though with a request of her own: “When he reached for the money, I drew my hand back. ‘A divorce, Hari. That’s my price.’ He squinted his eyes, then shrugged, as if it were all the same to him” (142).

That evening, Lakshmi tells Radha the happy news about her schooling, but the girl is indifferent. She has transferred her affections to Kanta now. Lakshmi has mixed emotions about her sister’s growing independence. She says, “I missed the other Radha, the one who had clung to me on our cot, cried helplessly and told me about Maa and Pitaji and her life in Ajar” (144).