<P> The narrative shifts once more, to a young Pius Fernandes . Immigrating from India to Dar es Salaam in the early 1950s, Fernandes teaches at a boys' school . Eventually, he is forced to also teach at the inferior girls school where he becomes infatuated with a teenager named Rita . Ali, now a successful married man in his thirties, also falls in love with teenage Rita . He begins sending her notes and when she eventually responds he convinces her to run away with him to London . Ali eventually becomes successful in London and briefly encounters Corbin . However, letters left to Fernandes by a colleague and friend who corresponded with Corbin's wife, reveal that Corbin and Ali met several times though whether Ali's paternity was revealed is remained hidden . </P> <P> In the present, Rita, now divorced from Ali, returns to Dar to reclaim the diary on behalf of her former husband . Fernandes willingly relinquishes both the diary and his research notes to Rita . </P>

The book of secrets m.g. vassanji characters