Summary

Prologue: Make-Up Believe. In first person, present tense narration, Kiran describes going up to his parents’ bathroom while his mother is making dinner and going through something of a secret ritual – putting on his mother’s makeup. He experiments with lipsticks, blush, and mascara, finding himself more beautiful with each application of each color. Then he experiments with blue eyeshadow, and finds the combination of the blue and his brown skin so attractive that he colors most of his face with it. He is admiring the reflection of the “girl” in the mirror when he is suddenly, terrifyingly, interrupted by his mother’s knock on the bathroom door. Panic stricken, he pretends to be using the toilet, flushing as he scrambles to put away everything he has been handling. Just as he is opening the door, he remembers that he...