Summary

Ajay is attending college at Princeton University. He comments on all the changes that are happening in his community due to the new immigrants coming from India: the food that's now available that didn't used to be (i.e., seeds for bitter gourds and deep red carrots); shops that opened in the bottom floors of what used to be just people's houses; houses torn down; immigrants who worked outdoors; and immigrants who had different backgrounds than the Indian immigrants from the 1960s and 1970s.

Ajay returned home twice a month to do laundry and bring back food, but also because his mother would call him crying that she was exhausted from being Birju's primary caretaker. Shuba and Rajinder still fought, but Rajinder stayed sober. He was gloomier than ever, though, according to Ajay (page 211).

Ajay's experience in college is enough to make him feel...