If I were a good daughter, I'd bring some to my father, watch his blue eyes twinkle as he
slices open the rich, red fruit, then eats the tiny seeds with a silver spoon just like a proper
British gentleman.
healthy body Health and Beauty
"He'll only stain his white suit," I grumble. My mother starts to say something to me, thinks
better of it, sighsas usual. We used to go everywhere together, my mother and Ivisiting
ancient temples, exploring local customs,
healthy body Health and Beauty
watching Hindu festivals, staying up late to see thestreets bloom with candlelight. Now, she barely takes me on social calls. It's as if I'm a leper
without a colony.
"He will stain his suit. He always does," I mumble in my defense, though no one is paying
me a bit of attention except for the organ-grinder and his monkey. They're following my
every step, hoping to amuse me for money.
healthy body Health and Beauty
The high lace collar of my dress is soaked withperspiration. I long for the cool, lush green of England, which I've only read about in my
grandmother's letters. Letters filled with
healthy body Health and Beauty
gossip about tea dances and balls and who hasscandalized whom half a world away,
healthy body Health and Beauty
I am stranded in boring, dusty India watching anorgan-grinder's monkey do a juggling trick with dates, the same trick he's been performing
for a year.
"Look at the monkey memsahib. How adorable he is!" Sarita says this as if I were still three
and clinging to the bottoms of her sari skirts. No one seems to understand that I am fully
sixteen and want, no, need to be in London, where I can be close to the museums and the
balls and men who are older than six and younger than sixty.
healthy body Health and Beauty
"Sarita, that monkey is a trained thief who will be begging for your wages in a moment," I
say with a sigh. As if on cue, the furry urchin scrambles up and sits
healthy body Health and Beauty
on my shoulder with hispalm outstretched. "How would you like to end up in a birthday stew?" I tell him through
clenched teeth. The monkey hisses. Mother grimaces at my ill manners and drops a coin in its
owner's cup. The monkey grins triumphantly and leaps across my head before running away.
A vendor holds out a carved mask with snarling teeth and elephant ears. Without a word,
Mother places it over her face. "Find me if you can," she says. It's a game she's played with
me since I could walka bit of hide-and-seek meant to make me smile. A child's game.
"I see only my mother," I say, bored. "Same teeth. Same ears."
healthy body Health and Beauty
Mother gives the mask back to the vendor. I've hit her vanity, her weak point.
"And I see that turning sixteen is not very becoming to my daughter," she says.
"Yes, I am sixteen. Sixteen . An age at which most decent girls have been sent for schooling
in London." I give the word decent an extra push, hoping to appeal to some maternal sense of
shame and propriety.
healthy body Health and Beauty
"This looks a bit on the green side, I think." She's peering intently at a mango. Her fruit
inspection is all-consuming.
healthy body Health and Beauty
"No one tried to keep Tom imprisoned in Bombay," I say, invoking my brothers name as a
last resort. "He's had four whole years there! And now he's starting at university.