The Inheritance of Loss

At the Queen of Tarts, Saeed Saeed and Biju play with a mouse in the kitchen until it dies amid the horseplay. The cook writes Biju asking for help with jobs for other young men in Kalimpong. The cook feels flattered at receiving these requests and urges his son to show the other men generosity. Saeed Saeed empathizes with Biju, as he also provides shelter for hopeful young men from “the tribes” in Zanzibar. Saeed complains that the Zanzibarian embassy issues visas to everyone who applies.

A group of men looking for Saeed stand outside the bakery, and Saeed hides behind the counter while his coworker Omar tells them he doesn’t know Saeed. The men say they will visit Saeed’s apartment, and he calls his roommate to warn him. Saeed tells his coworkers he has helped too many other men, housing them in his crowded apartment and cooking them food.

Biju recalls his first days in New York, when he visited his father’s friend Nandu. Nandu would not answer the door when Biju visited, but Biju waited for him on the doorstep. Nandu said there are more jobs in India and told the young man to go back. He arranged Biju’s living situation and never spoke to him again.

Biju, desperate for a green card, travels with Saeed and two other coworkers to Washington Heights in order to obtain forged ones. Shadowed people in a van take their money and photographs, and they fingerprint the men. The Queen of Tarts staff wait weeks and realize they were scammed.

A customer at Queen of Tarts finds a whole mouse inside a load of bread. The health department inspects the bakery, finds violations throughout, and shut it down. Saeed gets a job at Banana Republic, and Biju is sad that this friendship will fade like his other relationships in the city. Biju lies in bed reminiscing about his family and Kalimpong.

Lola and Noni complain of the heat and humidity, and the papers predict a monsoon. The monsoon comes with a great wind and blows flour all over the cook and Sai. Rain falls, followed by thunder and lightning that frightens Mutt. As the wet season progresses, mold spreads throughout Cho Oyu. Sai feels content in this solitary season, although political protests disturb the area.

When the rain relents, Gyan travels to tutor Sai and finds her reading newspaper stories reporting on regional insurgencies. Gyan tutors her in the dining room but can’t help but notice the “being so splendid” before him (119). When it rains and hails, Sai and the cook compel Gyan to stay the night for his safety.

The judge, sensing Gyan’s ambition and unfamiliarity with their food, feels irritated at the young man’s presence during dinner. He asks what poetry Gyan is reading, and Gyan lies that he is reading Tagore. The judge asks him to recite a poem. Gyan recites a Tagore verse that all local schoolchildren know. The judge laughs mirthlessly and retires to bed early.

The judge remembers his long hours in the library as a student. At Cambridge he read Expedition to Goozerat and found his home region described in an unfamiliar manner. Each morning he strained through constipation and followed his strict reading schedule, working “eighteen hours a day, over a hundred hours a week” (122). During his oral exams, a 12-person panel asked the judge questions about how steam trains work, ancient Chinese custom, his opinion of Gandhi, and his favorite writer. Finally, they asked him to recite a poem, and the panel laughed at his thick Indian accent.

The cook cleans after dinner and prepares Gyan’s bedroom. Although noticing a “strange atmosphere in the room” (125), the cook leaves for his hut to read Biju’s new letters. Sai and Gyan mime reading newspapers in the drawing room. Gyan asks about Sai’s beauty regimen and her brands of shampoo and soap. He takes her hands in his to study their small size and bitten nails. He comments on the sharpness of her elbow.

The two compare arms, legs, and toes. Gyan finds himself bold enough to trace Sai’s eyebrow and nose with his finger. As he reaches her lips with his finger, Sai jumps up, shakes herself off, and says goodnight.

The judge lies awake and returns to thoughts of his exams. His oral test earned the lowest score in the class. He went to his boardinghouse and cried for three days. He did not tell his landlady or his family back home of his failure. The judge moved closer to the college and met a fellow boarder named Bose. Bose and the judge traveled through London, drinking and sightseeing, and Bose educated the judge in English diction, history, and culture. He became dignified and like an Englishman, then left on his post to serve as a judge in India.

Sai distractedly leaves and re-enters the bathroom to wash herself. The cook reads Biju’s letters and is sad at the long distance between him and his son. Gyan feels nervous about touching Sai, plus a small swell of pride.

Biju runs into Saeed, who has married a white woman from Vermont to secure a green card. Saeed describes the intense INS interview for which he and his wife are preparing, making sure they can answer every intimate question posed to catch them in a lie. Saeed has met his wife’s “family of long-haired Vermont hippies feeding on pita bread spread with garlic and baba ghanoush” (134). He shows Biju photographs from his album, which also carries important documents and will be viewed by INS. His wife’s family enthusiastically agrees to cover for Saeed and help him stay in America. Biju smiles at American women as he leaves Saeed, but “they barely looked at him” (135).

The cook complains to the post office of wet mail, and Lola can’t call Pixie for her birthday since the monsoon has downed the phone lines. They meet in town, swap stories, and depart, the cook for the butcher and Lola in search of bug spray and swatters.

Gyan and Sai continue their inventory of measurements, comparing anatomy like their collarbones and veins. Sai offers him her hair, ears, and eyes for study. The tension grows in their “game of courtship” (138) until Gyan asks for a kiss. Two weeks pass, and the lovers kiss the parts they previously inventoried during their game.

Gyan and Sai’s romance occurs against a background of political discontent, as displayed on signs throughout the region. A group of young Gorkha militants (who are Nepali) processes through Darjeeling to campaign for the formation of Gorkhaland, a gesture signaling new dangers in the region.