However, he quickly loses interest in this profession and returns to his hometown of Fourways, where he learns that his father has just died.

Ganesh plans to be either a writer or a professional masseur, and he befriends a local shop owner named Ramlogan.

Ganesh and Leela go to live in the small rural village of Fuente Grove, and he befriends a shop owner there named Beharry.

Ganesh spends the next five weeks writing an educational text about Hinduism, and when he finishes it, he has hired a print shop to make copies of his book.

Ganesh, having gained considerable personal wealth, invests his money in Fuente Grove’s businesses and infrastructure, and the village begins to prosper.

Ganesh then decides to campaign for a position in the Legislative Council of Trinidad, and he wins easily, having gained widespread fame and popularity by this point.

The publisher André Deutsch encouraged Naipaul to write a novel after seeing the manuscript of his collection of short stories, Miguel Street.