Racism

Bindu comes up against the racist tendencies of the people around her most acutely when she goes to the open house for Shady Palms at the beginning of the novel. She initially attends the open house with a white friend of hers named Debbie. Bindu detects the people's eyes "flicker[ing] away without so much as a hint of acknowledgement" when they see her (4). Then, she sees them "introduce themselves to Debbie with enough enthusiasm that the contrast in their reactions landed on Bindu like a slap," and when she tries to talk to them, her "own accent sound[s] loud in her ears" (4). This is the first glimpse the reader gets of Bindu in the novel, and the first impression is a powerful one. The implication here is that this type of prejudice has been shown to Bindu before, as she immediately attributes the contrast...