Summary

Words: After her wash, Piya asks Fokir what the chequered cloth is called and he replies “gamchha” (93). Piya did not learn Bengali as she associates the language with her parents’ arguments and a time when she would be forced to hide in her wardrobe to escape the sound. Fokir starts to make a meal out of the crabs he and Tutul have caught. Although she knows she will not be able to eat the food, after being hospitalized through eating carelessly on a previous trip, the smell of his cooking also reminds her of her mother. Instead Piya eats a supper of protein bars and Ovaltine then listens to Fokir sing.

The Glory of Bon Bibi: Kanai discovers that Kusum’s father was killed in 1970 and that her mother was left destitute. When she was...