Pi recounts that the Patel family leaves Madras on June 21, 1977, sailing on the Panamanian-registered Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum. Pi notes the ship’s international makeup: Japanese officers, a Taiwanese crew, and a large, impressive vessel carrying the family and their zoo animals.

On the family’s final day in Pondicherry, Pi says goodbye widely and emotionally—to Mamaji, to Mr. and Mr. Kumar, to friends, and even to strangers—marking the severing of his everyday ties to India.

Pi focuses on his mother’s mood and appearance. Dressed in her finest sari with jasmine in her hair, Pi’s mother looks beautiful but deeply sad as she contemplates leaving the familiar details of Indian life she loves, while Pi and Pi’s father seem eager to depart and start a new life abroad.

A small exchange about whether to buy cigarettes reveals Pi’s mother’s anxiety about losing the specific textures of home. Pi’s father dismisses the idea by saying tobacco exists in Canada and pointing out they do not smoke, but Pi senses that Pi’s mother is really thinking about all the distinct Indian brands and everyday comforts that will not be there.

As preparations finish, the sedated animals’ cages are loaded and secured, feed is stored, bunks are assigned, and the ship is worked out of dock and piloted to sea. Pi waves goodbye to India in excitement under sun, breeze, and seagulls, while acknowledging that events will not unfold as planned and that life must be met as it comes.