Summary

Bhima and Sera sit in Sera’s dining room. Sera is in a chair while Bhima squats on the floor. Dinaz used to chastise her mother about treating Bhima as a lower-class person by not allowing her to sit on the furniture or use their dishes. Sera and Feroz had been opposed to burning Harijan’s, but still held to the old caste roles in their own house. Since Feroz’s death, Sera has considered allowing Bhima to use the furniture and dishes, but she worries what her neighbors will think. Still, she admits she is uncomfortable with the idea herself. Once, when Dinaz had hugged Bhima, she had to stop herself from telling Dinaz to wash herself afterward. Thinking about it, Sera knows her reaction was strange because Bhima is one of the cleanest people she knows.

Bhima tells Sera about...