The Buddha of Suburbia

Excited and nervous, Karim and Eleanor go to dinner at the Pykes’. Terry has prepared Karim with all the gossip about the Pykes’ wealth, their home, and Matthew Pyke’s pretenses of radicalism.

They have dinner, and the Pykes are obviously bored. After smoking some marijuana, Pyke calls Eleanor outside. Marlene and Karim have sex. Pyke and Eleanor return and all four have sex together.

This chapter begins during the fall. The play is on hiatus, while the writer takes the actors’ character sketches and makes them into a coherent script. Karim and Eleanor work for Eva on the renovation of the London flat. They never discuss what happened during the sex party at the Pykes’. As they work they listen to the new music—the Clash, Charlie’s band, and the Pretenders. At night, they dress as punks and attend plays.

Once the flat is gutted, Karim goes to stay with Anwar and Jeeta and works in the shop. He discovers that Anwar has gone downhill fast; he is drinking alcohol every day. He no longer works at all in the shop. Jeeta has taken over. She modernizes the shop, and the customers return.

As he observes the family, he sees that Jeeta is deliberately starving Anwar of her companionship and affection.