The Inheritance of Loss

Sai and the judge eat dinner during Sai’s first night at Cho Oyu. The cook makes her mashed potatoes shaped like a motorcar, mutton, green beans, and cauliflower “that looked like a shrouded brain” (36). Sai studies this grandfather she has never met, noticing his frayed yet ironed clothing, chemical-smelling cologne, and ancient, thousand-yard stare. The judge asks her name, and she compares Mutt’s good looks to those of a movie star. The judge asks for soup, the cook runs to get it, and the light dims with faltering electricity.

The cook carries in soup while muttering complaints to himself. The judge considers options for Sai’s future schooling and says a nearby tutor will be best. The light above them goes out, and the judge swears.

Sai lies in her new bed under a tablecloth and listens to the full forest outside. She also hears the “monumental” sound of termites chewing through the wood in the house.

Sai’s first night at Cho Oyu provokes the judge’s memories of leaving home as a young man. His mind reaches back to 1939, when he left his village of Piphit for Cambridge.

The judge, whose given name is Jemubhai (Jemu for short), leaves for the boat to England with his father. The judge gazes out the window and thinks of his heartsick mother, the immense landscape of his home region, and his new wife, a 14-year-old girl whom he married six weeks ago. On the boat, the judge feels afraid and sees his father at the dock. His father shouts, “Throw the coconut!“ (42), a traditional blessing for his voyage. The judge does not throw it but gazes at the shore until his father vanishes.

The judge meets his cabin mate, who balks when he smells the food the judge’s mother packed for him. The judge is ashamed of the rotten banana in his bag and throws it from the ship deck. The judge recalls an awkward sexual encounter with his new wife. The following day the ship berths at Liverpool, and the judge boards a train to Cambridge.

In Cambridge the judge is turned away again and again in his search for lodging. A woman named Mrs. Rice reluctantly boards him and feeds him small English meals daily. The judge requests a heartier supper like those his mother once made him, and Mrs. Rice acquiesces with beans on toast.

The judge’s life at university consists of studying and little else. The English avoid him for his skin color and the way he smells. The judge develops a deep self-consciousness that affects his clothing choices and obsessive grooming habits. He avoids even casual contact with store clerks and is provoked to tears when a woman at a drug store treats him kindly.

During Sai’s first night at Cho Oyu, the judge lies awake, frustrated that his sleep medicine has seemed to cause wakefulness instead. He remains awake until the neighbor’s rooster crows. At breakfast he tells the cook to take Sai to her new tutor, Noni.

The cook leads Sai on the hour-long walk to Noni’s home. Along the way he shows her the Cho Oyu property and introduces her to their nearest neighbor, Uncle Potty. Noni lives with her sister Lola in a house called Mon Ami. The elderly women live on Lola’s late husband’s pension, but they need extra money from tutoring for home repairs. When Lola and Noni meet Sai, they remark on the stupidity of India’s short allegiance with Russia.

Noni and Lola are horrified when Sai tells them of the Nepali boys who robbed Cho Oyu’s guns. The sisters express mistrust of Budhoo, their Nepali watchman. Mon Ami is a comforting place in their old age, filled with a global collection of books, religious iconography, and art. Budhoo arrives every night via bicycle while Noni and Lola listen to the BBC or watch their small television. He keeps them abreast of what he sees throughout the evening “so Lola and Noni could hear him and feel safe” (51).

The sisters recall their early days at Mon Ami, when Chinese people were the object of prejudice in Kalimpong, and Tibetan people retreated to the region, as did aristocrats. Noni and Lola briefly discuss a book, and Lola says she read that chicken tikka masala has become the most popular take-out dinner in Britain. They reference Lola’s daughter Pixie, a BBC reporter and English resident. Noni taunts Lola’s infatuation with British foods like strawberries and cream, since the English diet makes Lola sick. They listen to the BBC nightly to hear Pixie, who now speaks in a British accent that makes her mother proud.

Biju works at Pinocchio’s Italian Restaurant, where the owner and his wife object to the young man’s smell. The owner gives Biju products like soap and deodorant. Biju leaves that restaurant for a delivery job at Freddy’s Wok. He delivers inexpensive Chinese food via bicycle through the crowded streets of New York City, where “poor people eat like kings” (55).

He delivers food one evening to three Indian college students, young women who represent the gentrification of their neighborhood. Biju listens to them discuss a friend who doesn’t want to date an Indian boy but a “Marlboro man with a Ph.D.” (56). Biju feels conflicted about encountering beautiful girls from a higher caste. He exits the building and sees the young women eating through their apartment window. He wolf-whistles at them before biking away.

As the weather grows colder, Biju’s customers complain to Freddy’s Wok that their food arrives cold when he delivers it. As he pedals through the cold, Biju cries from grief. He returns to sleep in the crowded Harlem basement where he and other undocumented workers live.

In the spring, after his savings have run out, Biju leaves Freddy’s Wok and finds a new job at a bakery called Queen of Tarts. His coworker is “Saeed Saeed, who would become the man he admired most in the United States of America” (59). Saeed is from Zanzibar, and his grandmother is Indian. He delights Biju with song-and-dance numbers from famous Indian films.