On these two pages the narrator has a conversation with Dr. Gopal, an Indian doctor who looks after Chid when he’s at hospital.

Dr. Gopal says Chid’s bad state is due to wrong food and living and explains further on that the climate is not suited to Europeans. With saying “not only Westernerns but even most Indians suffer from amoebic dysentery” (p.146, ll.9/10) the doctor admits that also Indians can be affected by diseases. After a discussion with the narrator, who is not his opinion in some aspects, the doctor seems to even feel superior to the narrator, because he starts laughing while talking to her and ends the discussion up with saying that only Indians are fit to live in a place like India and none of the Europeans. (p.146, ll.20-23). His words “For Indians only! Keep out” (l.25) climax everything the doctor has said before.

Even if the doctor might be right with saying that our European bodies are not made for such a hot country I think that people can adapt to a certain climate after a while. Best examples therefore are the Europeans the narrator mentions on page 147. There are the Englishmen who continued living in India after the Mutiny and also the woman missionary as well as Olivia.

And what about other hot places like Australia, which was also an English colony and full of Europeans nowadays? The people there could adapt to the weather as well so why should it not be possible in India?

To me it seems like the doctor, especially at the end of the discussion does not really talk about the Europeans bodies who suffer from infections, but wants to point at the Europeans, particularly the English, who came to India and took over the Indians’ land. This was not right in his opinion and that is why he becomes so emotionally during the discussion. In my opinion his words “You know in the bad old days you had your Clubs and they were reserved for the British only? Well now it is like this that we have our germs and we have reserved these for ourselves only”.” (p.146, ll. 24/25) show his feelings of injustice the best.