The Space Between Us: A Novel
4/5
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About this ebook
“Bracingly honest.”—New York Times Book Review
The author of Bombay Time, If Today Be Sweet, and The Weight of Heaven, Thrity Umrigar is as adept and compelling in The Space Between Us—vividly capturing the social struggles of modern India in a luminous, addictively readable novel of honor, tradition, class, gender, and family. A portrayal of two women discovering an emotional rapport as they struggle against the confines of a rigid caste system, Umrigar’s captivating second novel echoes the timeless intensity of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible—a quintessential triumph of modern literary fiction.
Thrity Umrigar
Thrity Umrigar is the author of seven novels Everybody’s Son, The Story Hour, The World We Found, The Weight of Heaven, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, and Bombay Time; a memoir, First Darling of the Morning; and a children’s picture book, When I Carried You in My Belly. A former journalist, she was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard and was a finalist for the PEN Beyond Margins Award. A professor of English at Case Western Reserve University, she lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Read more from Thrity Umrigar
Everybody's Son: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bombay Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Space Between Us
132 ratings48 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So enjoyed reading this book. Well written and a captivating story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a grate book and I totally recommend it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fascinating glimpse at Indian society, centering on a relationship between two women from very different worlds. For most of the story, their bond seems to bridge India's complex caste system and re-defines "family". It was a tragic story, that was quite well written.
My one complaint is that I wish it had ended with the confrontation. The last few pages were truly a distraction. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5k
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful book
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The descriptions in the book were excellent. The ending poignant. It was a book that never stopped being unhappy. All the characters were miserable all the time. I found that too one dimensional. Would not recommend this book.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A novel about a wealthy woman and her downtrodden servant, which offers a revealing look at class and gender roles in modern day Bombay. Alternatively told through the eyes of Sera, a Parsi widow whose pregnant daughter and son-in-law share her elegant home, and Bhima, the elderly housekeeper who must support her orphaned granddaughter.When we first meet Bhima, she is sharing a thin mattress with Maya, the granddaughter upon whom high hopes and dreams were placed, only to be shattered by an unexpected pregnancy and its disastrous consequences. As time goes on, we learn that Sera and her family have used their power and money time and time again to influence the lives of Bhima and Maya, from caring for Bhima's estranged husband after a workplace accident, to providing the funds for Maya's college education. We also learn that Sera's seemingly privileged life is not as it appears; after enduring years of cruelty under her mother-in-law's roof, she faced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, pain that only Bhima could see and alleviate. The two women share a close bond, which is broken when Bhima accuses Sera’s son in law of having an affair with Sera and getting her pregnant.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bhima is a poor Hindu servant, abandoned by her husband. Sera is her employer, a middle-class Parsi woman whose late husband was abusive and whose mother-in-law was a nightmare. The space between them, due to class, is undeniable, despite their shared experiences as women. One of the questions the book poses is whether class or gender is more definitive of Indian women's lives. We could, of course, pose the same question in any culture. I ran hot and cold as I was reading, but ultimately liked this one. lIt is smaller in scale than A Fine Balance, my favorite book set in India, and sometimes I feared it was going to descend to "women's fiction" territory, but its seriousness of purposes creeps up on the reader. I also enjoyed the language of the book, especially all the Indian rhyming slang. In its evocation of slum life and the rapidly changing economy and culture of India, I could see it being read as a complement to Behind the Beautiful Forevers - like Katherine Boo, the author is a journalist.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read this book in the ARC version back in 2007 and this is what I thought of it then: Ohhh ... I so loved this book. Right from a few pages in and all the way through. My only reservation was the lack of a Hindi vocabulary in the back (but maybe that has been added to the "real" published book) - as I would have loved to know that they were eating all the time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed the book very much , especially for the glimpse into a different culture that it offers. I also enjoyed the relationships the book explored between family members, people of different means and class , relationships between women in general. The story is another example of how we all experience some of the very same problems no matter where we live and of how money and means cannot buy happiness, it can only make you more comfortable in your misery.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5excellent book!Set in Bombay and based on a real person, this novel explores the impact of gender and class on women and the struggle to reconcile the differences. The relationships between generations, employer/servants, spouses are explored with sensitivity and heartbreak. The characters are strong and well defined. Their lives swirl around strong desires and attempts to break free of long established social barriers.The ending is something of a twist and beautifully written.Just a snippet:"And now she finally understands what she has always observed on people's faces when they are at the seaside... she would notice how people's faces turned slightly upward when they stared at the sea, as if they were straining to see a trace of God or were hearing the silent humming of the universe... people's faces became soft and wistful... sniffing the salty air for transcendence, for something that would allow them to escape the familiar prisons of their own skin."
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is story that spans generations, socioeconomic status, difference in generations, and the challenges between genders. It is an excellent book that kept me interested all the way through. Thrifty’s writing style is so eloquent, where she finds beauty in the layout of the country, it’s people, and traditions. I could relate most with Bhima, the housekeeper for Sera’s household and grandmother to Maya. She reminded me so much of my great-grandmother and I could truly understand the sacrifices she personally makes so that her granddaughter can have a different lifestyle and move from the “slums”. Both Sera and Bhima come to a decision that will have lifelong consequences. These consequences will forever change their relationship as they both are the matriarchs of their respective families.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before I start on the review of the book I want to express that this is one of the nicest books I have received lately in regards to the cover, binding and pages. It has an old-fashioned feel to the pages; they are not smooth on the ends, they have that rough finish you used to find on older books. The cover is stunning in person - I can't begin to express how the flat picture does nothing to convey the depth of the book you hold in your hand.Now on to the story. It was amazing. A book I found myself still thinking about days after I had turned the final page. It is not a happy or light or breezy book by any definition but it is a book where the writer's way with words enters into your thoughts and you find yourself thinking about some of life's big questions.In the novel we meet Bhima, a woman of the slums of Bombay who has not had a very good life. She has worked for years for Sera and her family and feels like part of their family despite not being allowed to sit on the furniture or drink or eat from their dishes. Sera, an upper class woman from a progressive family married into an old fashioned family and found herself being abused by both her mother in law and husband but did nothing about it. Bhima knew all of Sera's secrets and Sera helped Bhima through some of the worst times of her life - including Bhima's current crisis when her 17 year old granddaughter comes home pregnant.These two women are intimately entwined yet worlds apart. When those two worlds meet they realize just how far apart they truly are. And the fallout is devastating for both of them.I had a hard time putting this book down and if it hadn't been garden season I think I would have read it all in one sitting. Then I would have read it again. Despite the sadness that pervades the book I was still left uplifted at the end because of the strength of Bhima's character. Don't get me wrong - she is a very hard to like woman but she was formed that way by the forces of her life. I had less sympathy for Sera because the way to change should have been much easier for her being educated and wealthy. She made small inroads but she couldn't make the big ones.Ms. Umrigar's writing is lyrical. Whether describing the beach or the communal toilet in a slum you get a true feel for where you are in the story. She weaves her words and takes you directly into the lives of her characters; the good, the bad and the ugly. I did see the big ending coming long before the end but it did not detract from the story at all. I would so love to see the follow-up to the lives of Bhima, Sera and Maya.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have been nursing this book for months! Having heard how strict the caste system is in India, I was looking forward to reading how this book would shed light on that. Initially, I was very excited about reading my first Indian fiction novel but by the end of it I was just trying to finish. There were passages that held my interest but then the text would go into another “black hole.” Bhima is Sera Dubash’s domestic “help.” These women could not be any more different or alike. They both watched the men they fell in love with and marry turn into men they hardly recognize. They both are fiercely loyal to their children. They both have hate sticking to the back of their throats. Sera hates her overbearing mother-in-law. Bhima hates being illiterate. These are just some of the issues these women have to juggle. Even though these women were from very different backgrounds they share a bond. Their lives seem to mirror each other’s emotionally. I found Bhima’s character to be utterly depressing but I admired her fierce resilience. The book’s jacket described her as stoic which was also true. Considering the cards that life dealt Bhima, I’m only sure I would not be walking around bubbly either. Even though Sera is upper middle class her “privilege” did not alter her low emotional state. Sera was a whiner who had no real identity outside of being Feroz’s wife and Dinaz’s mother. Maya, Bhima’s granddaughter, brings a shift to the text but her fate is not a joyous one either. Bhima often reminisces about an Afghanistan balloon artist she used to see on the beach who she “hears” at the end of the story. This is quite strange considering she never spoke with him. The somewhat constant reference to him throughout the text was just awkward to me. There was a twist to this story and it cut the thread that bound Bhima and Sera's relationship.I really wanted to like this story but it was such a slow read. The ending did not even redeem the story for me. The characters were stale they had depth but overall they were lacking a “spark”. The story itself was not lacking it dealt with some major issues like domestic violence, AIDS, and abortion just to name a few. I did like the fact how Umrigar made the city of “Bombay” to be a character. Even though The Space Between Us did not hit the mark for me, I am looking forward to reviewing Umrigar’s new novel, The World We Found (set to be released 1/2012). I plan on, The World We Found, to be my first review of 2012 (hopefully) thanks to the ARC I received courtesy of my friends at Harper Books.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautifully written account of two women in India, one wealthy and one her maid. The difficulties of both of the women's lives is obvious but their every day survival is dramatic. A wonderful read!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Takes place in Bombay. About the lives of a middle class woman and her servant, and the class differences between them — a very good book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a very thought provoking book while I was reading it, until I got to the end, when my only thought was "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" And then I thought that I might not want to know the answer, because it would be too sad. Very good.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a beautifully written story of two women. On the surface, they appear to be friends, although one, Sera, is the middle class employer of Bhima, who lives in a slum. In theme, it reminded me of The Help: the idea that someone could work in your home, care for your children, wash your clothes and prepare your food, that you could treat them well, but still consider them as less than you in some way. Bhima works for Sera for years. She knows the most intimate details of Sera's life. She loves Sera's child like her own. Bhima has to leave her own children at home, even when they are ill, to go care for Sera's family. In return, Sera is kind to Bhima, gossips with her, trusts her with money and other personal details, but when she has an opportunity to defend Bhima against an unfair accusation, class distinction rears its ugly head. While most of this story is sad, it is beautifully written and ends with a sense of hope rather than despair. I didn't want it to end.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I really enjoyed it, especially the glimpse it allowed onto the way people live in India. I believe it to be fairly accurate. I loved the way it was told, for me it made it even more realistic: the emotions described as dramatically as I would expect, words doubled and changed, the deminutives, Indian expressions - everything intertwined so lively. An extremely interesting read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful story of two women on different sides of the Indian Caste system. One of my favorites!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Compelling story of two women set in current-day Bombay. Sera Dabesh is an upper middleclass Parsi, Bhima her Hindu domestic. Bhima faces a sea of hardships, including the loss of her daughter to AIDS and her husband to alcoholism. Sera is trapped in an abusive marriage. The narrative was a bit histrionic for this reader but nonetheless paints a very human face on the issue of modern poverty and class differences.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overall, The Space Between Us, is a heartbreaking but real and refreshing read. If you like modern fiction that transforms your world and transports you to another place (in this case Bombay, India), then I do not think you will be disappointed. Thrity Umrigar's voice is stunning and beautiful; the prose was truly remarkable. The themes were very heavy and often disturbing, but I do not think they could have been handled in a more delicate manner.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As much as I enjoyed reading this book, I found it to be a bit soap opera-ish. This happens, then that happens, then there is a shocking revelation…cue music. It’s very dramatic at times. Part of that I think is due to the fact that it’s set in another country. The use of language is different so the emphasis is different with some words, which to me, makes it sound more dramatic.For whatever reason, the middle class tends to rhyme their words when speaking in this novel. I can’t remember word for word what was said, but “friends schlends” for example. As they tsk tsk over something…they lapse into rhyming their words. This seemed odd to me. Was this an attempt at being cute? To perhaps lend some lightness to the conversation? I’m not sure, but it happened at least three times (that I can recall) and it made me wonder if they really talk like that in India. [I've since learned that yes, this is an authentic way of speaking in India].As for the story itself, I liked the way Umrigar balanced what is essentially two parallel stories and brought them together. Her descriptive passages leave nothing to the imagination. Every sight and sound and sometimes even smell is accounted for. The scenes at Chowpatty Beach are so vivid, albeit brief. I was completely wrapped up in that world while reading the book.As this is now my second Umrigar book, I have to say that she has a very distinct way of writing and an unfailing sense of who her characters are. I think I enjoyed The Space Between Us a bit more than The Weight of Heaven. It seemed a bit more authentic to me, even with the dramatic undertones. Both would make excellent book club picks.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I actually read this book twice--once when it was first published, and now for an upcoming book club meeting. It's a little depressing, no? But poignant, too, in parts. All in all reflective of how customs and traditions help mask clear misdeeds and insults.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Space Between Us is a story set in India. It focuses on two women living their lives through heartbreaking betrayal, tragedy, death and overwhelming joy. Bhima is an old, sad, uneducated woman who resides in the slums and works for a rich family. Serabai is Bhima's mistress. She lives a life that Bhima is jealous of. She has education, riches and power. Throughout the years of working for Serabai, Bhima and she have become close and even friendly despite their employer/employee status. Through the most unlikely of friendships they take care of each other and have a connection that is as fascinating to the two women as it is to the reader. We also meet Maya, Bhima's granddaughter and only remaining family member. And Dinaz who is Serabai's only daughter. We learn about the history of Bhima's joyous marriage which is contrasted by the monster of a man that Serabai took as a husband. Through these and other life stories, we see that two women who are so different are so very similar.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The author is an expert in creating the atmosphere of: a crowded sweaty Bombay, a slum lean-to, the relationship between two women of differing classes, the struggles of women and men, and that moment when one comes to know one's own freedom in the world. This is a very easy read and very rewarding.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My final reaction to this book suggests it reads like a modern Greek tragedy. The juxtaposition between the two families speaks of a huge class 'space' quite unknown outside of India. The author has the advantage, from my perspective, of knowing the cultural and social environment that is seen very clearly with her.The 'space' speaks of a distance between the various religious and class factors wider than can be bridged between nations. I found it a sad novel, always hoping that a real ray of sunshine would burst forth for both of the women, Sera and Bhima, in the book. The final chapter I found quite tragic. Whatever relationship had been built up over the years was quite suddenly wiped out. The story sort of fizzled out for me at that point.However, that fact aside, I found the novel offered an educational glimpse into a way of life unknown in my part of North America.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Not enough time. Will try to get it again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A compelling author, but a difficult read because of the subject matter.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
I loved this book !!!
Book preview
The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar
PROLOGUE
The thin woman in the green sari stood on the slippery rocks and gazed at the dark waters around her. The warm wind loosened strands of her scanty hair, pulling them out of her bun. Behind her, the sounds of the city were muted, shushed into silence by the steady lapping of the water around her bare feet. Other than the crabs that she heard and felt scuttling around the rocks, she was all alone here—alone with the murmuring sea and the distant moon, stretched thin as a smile in the nighttime sky. Even her hands were empty, now that she had unclenched them and released her helium-filled cargo, watching until the last of the balloons had been swallowed up by the darkness of the Bombay night. Her hands were empty now, as empty as her heart, which itself was a coconut shell with its meat scooped out.
Balancing gingerly on the rocks, feeling the rising water tonguing her feet, the woman raised her face to the inky sky for an answer. Behind her was the lost city and a life that at this very moment felt fictitious and unreal. Ahead of her was the barely visible seam where the sea met the sky. She could scramble over these rocks, climb over the cement wall, and reenter the world; partake again of the mad, throbbing, erratic pulse of the city. Or she could walk into the waiting sea, let it seduce her, overwhelm her with its intimate whisperings.
She looked to the sky again, searching for an answer. But the only thing she could hear was the habitual beating of her own dutiful heart…
BOOK
ONE
1
Although it is dawn, inside Bhima’s heart it is dusk.
Rolling onto her left side on the thin cotton mattress on the floor, she sits up abruptly, as she does every morning. She lifts one bony hand over her head in a yawn and a stretch, and a strong, mildewy smell wafts from her armpit and assails her nostrils. For an idle moment she sits at the edge of the mattress with her callused feet flat on the mud floor, her knees bent, and her head resting on her folded arms. In that time she is almost at rest, her mind thankfully blank and empty of the trials that await her today and the next day and the next…To prolong this state of mindless grace, she reaches absently for the tin of chewing tobacco that she keeps by her bedside. She pushes a wad into her mouth, so that it protrudes out of her fleshless face like a cricket ball.
Bhima’s idyll is short-lived. In the faint, delicate light of a new day, she makes out Maya’s silhouette as she stirs on the mattress on the far left side of their hut. The girl is mumbling in her sleep, making soft, whimpering sounds, and despite herself, Bhima feels her heart soften and dissolve, the way it used to when she breast-fed Maya’s mother, Pooja, all those years ago. Propelled by Maya’s puppylike sounds, Bhima gets up with a grunt from the mattress and makes her way to where her granddaughter lies asleep. But in the second that it takes to cross the small hut, something shifts in Bhima’s heart, so that the milky, maternal feeling from a moment ago is replaced by that hard, merciless feeling of rage that has lived within her since several weeks ago. She stands towering over the sleeping girl, who is now snoring softly, blissfully unaware of the pinpoint anger in her grandmother’s eyes as she stares at the slight swell of Maya’s belly.
One swift kick, Bhima says to herself, one swift kick to the belly, followed by another and another, and it will all be over. Look at her sleeping there, like a shameless whore, as if she has not a care in the world. As if she has not turned my life upside down. Bhima’s right foot twitches with anticipation; the muscles in her calf tense as she lifts her foot a few inches off the ground. It would be so easy. And compared to what some other grandmother might do to Maya—a quick shove down an open well, a kerosene can and a match, a sale to a brothel—this would be so humane. This way, Maya would live, would continue going to college and choose a life different from what Bhima had always known. That was how it was supposed to be, how it had been, until this dumb cow of a girl, this girl with the big heart and, now, a big belly, went and got herself pregnant.
Maya lets out a sudden loud snort, and Bhima’s poised foot drops to the floor. She crouches down next to the sleeping girl to shake her by the shoulders and wake her up. When Maya was still going to college, Bhima allowed her to sleep in as late as possible, made gaajar halwa for her every Sunday, gave her the biggest portions of dinner every night. If Serabai ever gave Bhima a treat—a Cadbury’s chocolate, say, or that white candy with pistachios that came from Iran—she’d save it to bring it home for Maya, though, truth to tell, Serabai usually gave her a portion for Maya anyway. But ever since Bhima has learned of her granddaughter’s shame, she has been waking the girl up early. For the last several Sundays there has been no gaajar halwa, and Maya has not asked for her favorite dessert. Earlier this week, Bhima even ordered the girl to stand inline to fill their two pots at the communal tap. Maya had protested at that, her hand unconsciously rubbing her belly, but Bhima had looked away and said the people in the basti would soon enough find out about her dishonor anyway, so why hide it?
Maya rolls over in her sleep, so that her face is inches away from where Bhima is squatting. Her young, fat hand finds Bhima’s thin, crumpled one, and she nestles against it, holding it between her chin and her chest. A single strand of drool falls on Bhima’s captive hand. The older woman feels herself soften. Maya has been like this from the time she was a baby—needy, affectionate, trusting. Despite all the sorrow she has experienced in her young life, Maya has not lost her softness and innocence. With her other free hand, Bhima strokes the girl’s lush, silky hair, so different from her own scanty hair.
The sound of a transistor radio playing faintly invades the room, and Bhima swears under her breath. Usually, by the time Jaiprakash turns his radio on, she is already in line at the water tap. That means she is late this morning. Serabai will be livid. This stupid, lazy girl has delayed her. Bhima pulls her hand brusquely away from Maya, not caring whether the movement wakes her up. But the girl sleeps on. Bhima jumps to her feet, and as she does, her left hip lets out a loud pop. She stands still for a moment, waiting for the wave of pain that follows the pop, but today is a good day. No pain.
Bhima picks up the two copper pots and opens the front door. She bends so that she can exit from the low door and then shuts it behind her. She does not want the lewd young men who live in the slum to leer at her sleeping granddaughter as they pass by. One of them is probably the father of the baby…She shakes her head to clear the dark, snakelike thoughts that invade it.
Bhima’s bowels move and she clucks her tongue. Now she’ll have to make her way to the communal bathroom before she goes to the tap, and the line will be even longer. Usually, she tries to control her bowels until she gets to Serabai’s house, with its real toilets. Still, it’s early enough that the conditions shouldn’t be too bad. A few hours later and there will hardly be room to walk between the tidy piles of shit that the residents of the slum leave on the mud floor of the communal toilet. After all these years, the flies and the stink still make Bhima’s stomach turn. The slum residents have taken to paying the Harijan woman who lives at the far end of the slum colony to collect their piles each night. Bhima sees her sometimes, crouching on the floor as she sweeps the pancakes of shit with her broom into a wicker basket that’s lined with newspaper. Occasionally, their eyes meet, and Bhima makes it a point to smile at her. Unlike most of the residents of the slums, Bhima does not consider herself superior to the poor woman.
Bhima finishes her business and makes her way to the tap. She groans as she sees the long line, winding its way past the black, disheveled-looking huts with their patched tin roofs. The morning light makes the squalor of the slum colony even more noticeable. The open drains with their dank, pungent smell, the dark rows of slanting hutments, the gaunt, openmouthed men who lounge around in drunken stupors—all of it looks worse in the clear light of the new day. Despite herself, Bhima’s mind goes back to the old days when she lived with her husband, Gopal, and their two children in a chawl, where water gurgled through the tap in her kitchen and they shared the toilet with only two other families.
Bhima is about to join the end of the water tap line when Bibi spots her. Ae, Bhima mausi,
she says. Come over here, na. For you only I’ve been holding a reservation here.
Bhima smiles in gratitude. Bibi is a fat, asthmatic woman who moved into the slum two years ago and immediately adopted Bhima as her older aunt. Whereas Bhima is silent and reserved, Bibi is loud and flashy. Nobody can stay angry at Bibi for too long—her willingness to help, her good-natured ribbing of old and young, have made her one of the slum colony’s most popular residents.
Now Bhima makes her way to where Bibi is standing. Here,
Bibi says, taking one of Bhima’s pots from her, despite the fact that she’s carrying two of her own. Get in here.
The man behind them feels compelled to protest. Ho, Bibi, this is not the Deccan Express, where you have reservations for a first-class bogey,
he grumbles. Nobody is allowed to jump the queue like this.
Bhima feels her face flush, but Bibi holds out a restraining hand and whirls around to face her detractor. Wah, wah,
she says loudly. Mr. Deccan Express here is worried about people jumping the line. But in one-two hours straight, while Bhima mausi is hard at work, he’ll be headed for the local bootlegger’s joint. And if there’s a shortage of liquor today, God forbid, let’s see then whether he jumps the line or not.
The crowd around them snickers.
The man shuffles his feet. Okay, now, Bibi, no need for personal attacks,
he mumbles.
Bibi’s voice gets even louder. Arre, bhaisahib, who’s attacking you personally? All I’m saying is, you are obviously a man of leisure, a man of great personal wealth. If you wish to spend your days at the bootlegger’s shop, that’s your concern. But poor Bhima here, she doesn’t have a fine husband like you to support her. We all know how well you support your wife. So anyway, Bhima mausi has to go to work on time. And I didn’t think a gentleman like you would mind if she filled her pots before you did.
The crowd is whooping with delight now. Ae, Bibi, you are too much, yaar. Tops, just tops,
a young layabout says.
Who needs nuclear weapons?
someone else says. I tell you, yaar, they should just unleash Bibi in Kashmir. The snows will melt from the fire in her tongue.
Wait, wait, I have it,
says Mohan, the seventeen-year-old who lives in the hut diagonally across from Bibi’s. "A perfect song for the occasion. Here it is:
"Forget the atom bomb, India said
Our new weapon leaves Pakistan dead
Just like she did Mr. Deccan Express
Bibi will leave you an utter mess."
Another man, whom Bhima doesn’t know, slaps Mohan on the back. Arre, ustad, you are too much. Our slum’s own court poet. With your movie star looks, you should be writing and singing your own songs. Imagine, the physique of a Sanjay Dutt and the voice of a Mohammad Rafi. On Filmfare awards night, there would be no other winners, I tell you.
Despite herself, Bhima smiles. Okay, you altoo-faltoos,
Bibi says with a grin. Leave us alone now.
By the time Bhima reaches her hut, Maya is up and has tea brewing on the Primus stove. As the girl adds the mint leaves to the boiling water, Bhima’s stomach growls. The two stand outside their hut and quickly brush their teeth. Maya uses a toothbrush, but Bhima simply takes the tooth powder on her index finger and rubs vigorously on her remaining teeth. They spit into the open drain that rolls past their home. Quickly, efficiently, Bhima dips a plastic cup into one of the copper pots and washes herself through her clothes. Her face burns as she notices the man in the opposite hut staring at her as she puts a hand under her blouse to wash her armpits. Shameless badmaash, she mutters to herself. Acting as if he has no mother or sister.
When Bhima reenters the hut, Maya pours the tea into two glasses. They sit on their haunches, facing each other, blowing on the hot tea and dipping a loaf of bread into the brew. Good tea,
Bhima says. It is the first she has spoken to Maya this morning. Then, as if the girl’s look of gratitude is too much for her to bear, she adds, Seems like at least something I’ve taught you has stayed with you.
Maya flinches, and the guarded, wary look returns to her face. Noticing the look makes Bhima feel repentant but strangely satisfied. She is gripped by the need to draw more blood.
So what will you do all day today?
Maya shrugs.
The shrug infuriates Bhima. Oh, that’s right, memsahib is no longer going to college, I forgot,
she says, addressing the walls. No, now she will just sit around like a queen all day, feeding herself and her—her bastard baby, while her poor grandmother slaves in someone’s home. All so that she can feed the demon that’s growing in her granddaughter’s belly.
If it’s blood she wanted, she has it. Maya moans as she pulls herself up from the floor and moves to the farthest corner of the small room. She leans lightly on the tin wall, her hands around her belly, and sobs to herself.
Bhima wants to take the sobbing girl to her bosom, to hold and caress her the way she used to when Maya was a child, to forgive her and to ask for her forgiveness. But she can’t. If it were just anger that she was feeling, she could’ve scaled that wall and reached out to her grandchild. But the anger is only the beginning of it. Behind the anger is fear, fear as endless and vast and gray as the Arabian Sea, fear for this stupid, innocent, pregnant girl who stands sobbing before her, and for this unborn baby who will come into the world to a mother who is a child herself and to a grandmother who is old and tired to her very bones, a grandmother who is tired of loss, of loving and losing, who cannot bear the thought of one more loss and of one more person to love.
So she stares numbly at the weeping girl, willing her heart not to take in the arrows of her sobbing. Even tears are a luxury,
she says, but she is unsure if she’s spoken out loud or to herself. I envy you your tears.
When she next speaks, she does so consciously. If you feel well enough, stop by Serabai’s house later. She keeps asking about you.
But even through her tears, Maya shakes her head no. I told you, Ma-ma,
she says. I don’t leave the house all day while you are gone.
Bhima gives up. Okay, then, sit at home while your old grandmother works all day,
she says, as she rises to her feet. Fatten your baby with my blood.
Ma-ma, please,
Maya sobs, placing her hands over her ears, the way she used to when she was little.
Bhima pulls the door shut behind her. She wants to slam it but controls herself. No need for anyone in the basti to know their family problems. They will know about the disgrace Maya has brought upon herself soon enough, and then they will attack her like vultures. No point in hastening that day.
As she begins her walk toward Serabai’s house, a cool morning breeze leans into Bhima, and she shivers against it. She can tell from the angle of the sun that she’s late. Serabai will be anxious to know what transpired yesterday. She picks up her pace.
2
Sera Dubash glances at the basket of onions hanging near the window and then at the large kitchen clock. Late again. Bhima is late again. She really needs to talk to Bhima about this daily tardiness. After all, she, Sera, is responsible for packing Dinaz’s and Viraf’s lunches on time each morning, and she needs Bhima here to help her. Yesterday, both children left for work ten minutes later than they should have because their lunches were not ready. Sera had to plead with Viraf not to speed, to drive with care, to remember that his wife was expecting their first baby. Yah, yah, Mamma,
Viraf had smiled, giving Sera a quick peck on the cheek. We all know that Dinaz’s tummy has the words Handle with Care tattooed on it.
Remembering her daughter’s pregnancy makes Sera think of Maya, and she feels a wave of remorse at her earlier resolution to chastise Bhima. Poor Bhima, she thinks. As if life has not been hard enough, now even her granddaughter has to add to her woes. Who would have guessed that a good girl like Maya could be up to such mischief? She wonders what happened at Maya’s college yesterday, and her impatience to find out the latest news from Bhima makes her glance at the clock again.
Sera sighs. If there’s one thing she hates, it’s chopping onions, but if the children’s omelets are to be made in time, she’d better get down to the task. No telling when Bhima may show up today. She reaches for a medium-sized onion, and by the time she has peeled the translucent skin, her eyes begin to water. She reaches for the biggest knife in the drawer. Better to get the task over with as quickly as possible. Years ago, Feroz had come up behind her as she worked in the kitchen and said, My God, Sera. You chop onions like you’re chopping heads. Such vehemence.
I’d rather chop heads than onions,
she’d replied. I’d probably cry less.
And Feroz had laughed. That was in the old days, before she lost her ability to make Feroz laugh.
Sera hears Viraf whistling tunelessly in his bedroom, and the sound makes her smile. She can imagine her young, handsome son-in-law standing before the full-length mirror, adjusting his tie, running a careless hand through his thick hair. There is something wonderful about the sound of a man getting ready to face the day, Sera thinks. Unlike Feroz, Viraf is noisy and makes his presence felt. He drops his hairbrush and murmurs a soft Damn
; he sings old Beatles songs in the shower; he gargles vigorously while brushing his teeth; he yells to Dinaz for a new bottle of shampoo; he walks noisily into the kitchen with shaving cream on his face and a towel around his waist. Feroz had lived like a thief in his own house, getting fully dressed in the bathroom before he emerged and then walking out of the bedroom without a second look in the mirror.
Sera cracks two eggs, beats them in a bowl, and adds onions, garlic, cilantro, and a pinch of chili powder to the mix. The mixture sizzles as it touches the hot oil in the frying pan. One down, one more omelet to go. She wonders whether she should make two more omelets for herself and Bhima, but the thought of chopping more onions gives her pause. Maybe she will make garlic omelets for the two of them. She reaches for the bread box and then remembers: no starch. This all-protein diet that both Viraf and Dinaz are on makes planning lunch difficult. She looks in the fridge to see what else to pack for the children.
God, Mummy, thanks so much. I wish you’d told me, though—I could’ve chopped the onions for you,
Dinaz says, walking into the kitchen.
And gone to work smelling like a Parsi restaurant?
Sera smiles. No, if you really want to help me, tell me what else to pack for you, deekra. One egg is just not enough…
It’s more than enough. Really.
Arre, Dinaz, one egg may be enough for you but not for your hubby, beta,
Sera says. I mean, this is a grown man, who works hard at a demanding job.
Dinaz makes a face. Oh yah, only your beloved son-in-law works hard, the poor thing. Your useless daughter, on the other hand, kills flies all day at work.
Now, Dinaz, I only said…
Sera hears Viraf’s footsteps and smells the Old Spice before she sees him. Correct,
Viraf says as he enters the kitchen. Mamma is cent percent correct. Chalo, at least there’s one person at home who appreciates me and how hard I work to support my family and my child to be.
Dinaz hits him hard on his arm. Shut up, yaar. A spoiled brat, that’s what Mummy’s made you, that’s all. Promotion time we’ll see who gets the bigger raise.
Her smile takes the sting out of her words.
Viraf shrugs and rolls his eyes. That’s because she has an unfair advantage, Mamma. That poor Mr. Dalal is so bewitched by my lovely wife’s looks and figure, how can he refuse her anything? Turns into a pudding every time he has to address her. And next to these feminine wiles, what chance does a poor, decent, simple man like me—with a face like a custard apple—what chance do I stand?
The two women laugh. Look at him, Mummy. Fishing for more compliments,
Dinaz says.
Sera smiles as the couple head back into their bedroom to finish dressing. She is so glad that the trouble that had flared like a match between them a few months ago seems to have died down. From the day Viraf and Dinaz moved in with her after Feroz’s death, she had vowed never to interfere in their marriage. After all, who knew better than she how poisonous an interfering mother-in-law can be to a marriage? But still, it had been hard to keep her mouth shut when she noticed the thin lines that had formed around Dinaz’s pale, narrow face. She had to bite down on her tongue when Viraf snapped at his pregnant wife at the dinner table or said something so sarcastic that it took Dinaz a moment to look up from her plate, needing that pause to collect her composure, to arrange her face into a blank mask. How well Sera knew that look. How many times had she willed her eyes not to fill with tears at one of Feroz’s snubs, not to allow her mother-in-law, Banu, the satisfaction of knowing that her son had drawn blood. At least Viraf doesn’t beat her, she would console herself and then hate herself for the weakness of that thought, for having lowered her standards so much that lack of physical abuse had become her definition of a good marriage. She wanted so much more than that for her only child.
Now, looking at Dinaz’s retreating form, Sera smiles in quiet satisfaction. Whatever trouble had blown between the children like a dark wind, they had resolved it. Viraf and Dinaz once again had the bantering, teasing relationship they’d always had, the one that told Sera they were friends first and husband and wife second. Even in the early days with Feroz, when he looked at her as if she were a star that had dropped from heaven, she had never known the casual, egalitarian spontaneity that her daughter shared with her husband. In the early days, Feroz had been gallant, courteous, loving even—but always formal. For instance, if she entered the room while he was brushing his teeth or cutting his toenails, he would shoo her away. This is private business,
he’d say. You don’t need to see me at my worst.
When Dinaz yells at her from the other room, it takes Sera a minute to place her daughter’s voice. Are the poras wrapped and ready, Mummy?
Dinaz asks.
Almost,
she replies, reaching for the aluminum foil that Viraf had brought back from his last trip to America.
The doorbell rings, and Sera heaves a sigh of relief. Bhima.
Sera opens the door to Bhima, and one look at her wan, sallow face tells her that yesterday’s mission was a failure. She raises one eyebrow questioningly, and in answer, Bhima shakes her head slowly from side to side. This is what Sera appreciates most about Bhima—this unspoken language, this intimacy that has developed between them over the years. That same connection now makes her realize that Bhima wants to wait until the children have left for work before telling her what happened yesterday. And she is glad, because, truth be told, she does not want to involve her pregnant daughter in Maya’s trials, does not want the shadow of Maya’s unfortunate circumstances to fall over the happiness of Dinaz’s pregnancy.
I’m sorry, Serabai,
Bhima is now saying. The line at the water tap was longer than usual today.
Despite herself, Sera can’t keep her earlier irritation from showing. No great harm done,
she says in a voice that sounds tight even to herself. I just had to make the children’s omelets myself. Can’t have them be late for work.
Before Bhima can reply, they hear Viraf in the other room. Dinaz,
he yells. Have you seen my red tie? The one you got me for my birthday last year?
God, you’re such a baby,
Dinaz replies, but even at this distance the two older women can hear the smile in her voice. It’s a wonder you even knew how to chew your food before you met me. How did you ever manage, I wonder?
Badly,
comes the prompt reply. I wore mismatched socks to work. And as for feeding myself, didn’t you notice the bib I was wearing when you first met me?
Bhima shakes her head. That Viraf baba,
she says. Always has something to say. Makes the house seem festive just by his presence, like every day is Holi or Diwali or something.
Sera nods. And knows immediately what Bhima has left unsaid: Not like the old days, when Feroz was alive and she and Bhima had to tiptoe around, afraid of his explosive silences and his explosive temper. When the house felt tomblike, encased in silence, a silence that prevented her from reaching out to others, from sharing her darkest secret with even her closest friends. When Bhima was the only one who knew, the only one who felt the dampness of the pillowcase after long nights of shedding hot tears, the only one who heard the muffled sounds coming from her and Feroz’s bedroom…
Sera shakes her head impatiently, to clear out the cobwebs of the past. Here I am wallowing in ancient history while poor Bhima has her hands full with her current situation, she thinks. What a self-centered, foolish woman I’ve become.
Come on,
she says to Bhima. Your tea is ready. Drink that and then get started on the dishes.
3
Bhima is in the kitchen, washing the dishes from last night’s dinner. Sera watches as her hands, thin and dark as the branches of a tree, fly over the pots and pans, scrubbing them until they sparkle like the noonday sun. Try as she might, she can never get the pots to shine the way Bhima does.
Viraf wanders in, adjusting his tie. That’s it,
he says to no one in particular. Next month, I’m buying a dishwasher. No point in poor Bhima slogging like this.
Bhima looks up in gratitude, but before she can say a word, Sera speaks up. Go, go,
she says. My Bhima can put your fancy dishwashers to shame. Not even a foreign-made machine can leave dishes as clean as Bhima can. Save your money, deekra.
…And give it to me instead, Bhima thinks to herself, and then, afraid that one of them will read her mind, she busies herself by concentrating on one particular food spot. Also, she needs a few seconds to fume. Sometimes she can’t figure Serabai out. On the one hand, it makes her flush with pride when Serabai calls her my Bhima
and talks about her proprietarily. On the other hand, she always seems to be doing things that undercut Bhima’s interests. Like refusing Viraf baba’s offer to buy a dishwasher. How nice it would be not to run her arthritic hands in water all day long. Bending over the sink to scrub the dishes has also begun to hurt her back, so that, at the end of the day, it sometimes takes half the walk home before she can straighten up. But how to tell Serabai all this? And this morning, making her feel guilty because she had to fix omelets for her own daughter and son-in-law. So what if she hates chopping onions? Does she, Bhima, enjoy squatting to shit in a communal room? But she does it because there is no other choice. Compared with that humiliation, chopping onions feels as easy as cutting a cake.
Her anger spent, Bhima’s sense of fair play and her stout affection for the Dubash family take over. Oh, you ungrateful woman, she chides herself. And who looked after you when you had malaria? Was it your ghost of a husband? Who gave you money just yesterday, so you could take a cab to Maya’s college? Was it your spread-her-legs granddaughter? No, it was this same woman whose salt you eat, who you are thinking ugly thoughts about. Shame on you.
Remembering her trip to Maya’s college makes Bhima glance involuntarily at the clock in the kitchen. A few more minutes and Viraf baba and Dinaz baby will be gone. Then she and Serabai can sip a cup of tea and talk. She knows that Sera is impatient to hear details about what transpired yesterday, and this realization makes Bhima’s throat tighten with emotion and gratitude. At least someone else cares about her pregnant brat of a granddaughter as much as she does. It is Serabai’s generosity that has made Maya’s education possible, and if Serabai now feels betrayed by Maya’s treachery, if she feels her investment in the girl’s future has come up dry, it is to her credit that she has never spoken of her disappointment to Bhima. From the first time that Bhima had confided the terrible, calamitous news, Sera had been concerned, anxious, and ready to help. Of course she will have to have an abortion,
Sera had said immediately. There’s no other way out. Maya is too bright, too intelligent to ruin her life by becoming a mother at seventeen. I’ll take care of the details, Bhima, you don’t have to worry about all that stuff. You have your hands full with enough other troubles, I know.
But for reasons she still didn’t understand, Bhima had hesitated. Perhaps she had unwittingly taken her cue from Maya, who had stiffened the first time Bhima mentioned an abortion. And then there was this: the unspoken, perhaps unacknowledged hope that the child’s father would step forward to assume his responsibility and do the right thing. That the curtain of anonymity, of secrecy, would part to reveal an anxious but honorable young man, frightened but eager to face up to this new challenge, to marry and build a life with the woman who would bear his first child. Yes, seventeen would be young for Maya to deliver a child, and marriage would certainly destroy her dreams of getting a B.Com. in accounting and becoming a bookkeeper at a good firm. The bright path that had rolled out before Maya when she became the first person in Bhima’s family to go to college—the good job that would inevitably await her, thanks to Dinaz’s and Viraf’s influence and business contacts, the escape from the