Back in Pi's voice. In a roundabout way, and with digressions, and with enough interesting details to occupy even the most jaded listener, Pi tells us how he was named.
He says, "I was named after a swimming pool." Fair enough.
Mr. Francis Adirubasamy returns. He's Pi's uncle and, we might add, a champion swimmer. Pi calls Francis A. "Mamaji," which is an affectionate term for uncle in Tamil (the language Indians speak in Tamil Nadu, Pi's state in eastern India).
We meet Ravi, Pi's brother. Ravi makes fun of Mamaji. Oh, Ravi.
Mamaji once tried to teach Pi's parents how to swim but they never waded past their knees. But Pi proves a faithful student to Mamaji and learns to swim in the pool and ocean.
Pi tells us that, besides actual swimming, people also talked about swimming in his family. Especially Mamaji and Pi's father.
Mamaji tells story after story about historic pools. Some are magnificent. The best pool in Paris, according to Mamaji, is the Piscine Molitor.
Thus we have Pi's full name: Piscine Molitor Patel, after a swimming pool in France.
