Summary

The narrator's daughter Kamala lives in Alpharetta, Georgia. The narrator dislikes the town after having visited it a few times. She notes that everything is so far away from everything else and that there are too many fast food restaurants around. She thinks that her late husband spoiled their daughter by sending her to the best schools and not requiring that she learn household tasks alongside her mother.

At Malliga Homes, the narrator eats her meals with the same group of people – the Venugopals and the Sharmas. The two couples and the narrator discuss Mr. Swaminathan's death, and Dr. Venugopal determines that Mr. Swaminathan had a stroke, and his wife laments how difficult it must be for Renuka to lose her husband. Realizing that the narrator is also a widow, she quickly corrects herself, but the narrator changes the subject. They speak about their...