The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (The Jaipur Trilogy, #2)

by Alka Joshi

Malik and I have just three days to save Manu Agarwal.

Artificial suspense

my handiwork, my crowning achievement, shines: the mandala on the floor, made of terrazzo, a fusion of Indian, Moroccan, Persian, Afghani and Egyptian henna designs that mean as much to me, today, as they did then. The Ashoka lion, symbol of my ambition—an ambition that led me from the village of my birth to the heights of Jaipur society,

Lakshmi

baskets of saffron flowers, a sterile plant and symbol of my choice to remain childless. Jay and I talked about it, well before we married.

Ravi is the one behind this fiasco?

he puts another fragment of brick on top and leaves it there. The gold is now concealed. He looks at us and grins. “And that, young Malik, is how some gold is transported.” He guffaws, his balloon belly jiggling.

the ladies want their gold back. Only...it’s gone. It was used to purchase munitions from other countries. So where can suppliers replenish the gold customers want? Africa. Brazil. Wherever they can smuggle it from, they’re doing it.”

Here we live in a country where the demand for gold is staggering. Yet, almost none of it is mined here. No wonder the illegal import business is thriving.

“They’re saying it’s Ravi Singh. That he’s set up his own operation, his own route.

Could it be that the Singhs are not as wealthy as everyone assumes?

I’m embarrassed, witnessing the intimacy between them.

Malik speaking- discovers gay lovers

“The Singhs found out about the two of you?”

My family needs to be protected. I cannot let my daughters’ lives be ruined by my failings. If word got out about what I am, they will never be able to marry. No one will have them.

We have one more day to find enough evidence to clear Manu.

money Sharma-Singh saves by using cheaper, substandard

materials is financing the purchase of contraband gold. Which is then sold on the black market, where there’s a demand for it.”

There are so many secrets in our world, aren’t there? Ones we keep, ones we reveal, but only at the right

Title Of book

Based on how smoothly he seduced my sister twelve years ago and shrugged off the consequences, we know how disingenuous Ravi can be.

Hakeem won’t come forward to say that he switched the receipts?

“Hakeem...lives with Mr. Reddy.”

He doesn’t want them to know about Mr. Reddy. It would destroy their lives.”

Maharani Indira feels that if a person’s birth had been easy, if they’ve left the birth canal unscathed, their karma is good and that karma will follow them into their present

Some lies are best kept secret.

this nursery to be Maharani Indira’s shelter, the place where she loves and nurtures freely. It smells of life and rich soil and damp and heat.

Nature

Samir Singh’s son Ravi has become involved in the couriering of gold from the Himalayas.”

He knows Niki is Ravi’s son. Is Radha’s son.

Samir

But we have to rebuild it pretty much from scratch.” His gaze comes back to me. “It will ruin the business, but I want to leave with my reputation intact. Ravi will not destroy that.

go to America.

“We’re going to go into real estate.”

And Ravi...well, he’ll probably do real estate with me in Los Angeles.”

Manu is any indication of what Niki will grow up to be, Ralph Waldo Emerson was right. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Nimmi and I are alike. She’s Hindu but also has no caste. She’s no longer with her people, her tribe.

The two of us—we understand what it is to be unmoored.”

But we can create our own traditions. Observe those we like, abandon those we don’t.”

Maik +Nimmi

“What if we turned your Healing Garden into a teaching center for other herbalists?

“Beefeater Gin! My dears, this is marvelous! Although my doctors won’t agree.”

Maharani

“The ideal outcome is always the preservation of integrity. It’s painful when the consequence of the outcome is so severe. I understand that the Royal Jewel Cinema will have to be completely rebuilt. But it will stand as a reminder to thousands of people who cross its threshold that the right thing is worth doing.”

It’s not every day that a Hindu and a Muslim get married; Malik and Nimmi decided to have a civil ceremony much as Jay