The Inheritance of Loss

Biju works at a restaurant called Brigitte’s in New York’s Financial District. The owners, Odessa and Baz, drink Darjeeling in the corner and discuss a never-ending litany of international news from the New York Times.

Another dishwasher, Achootan, complains of white people in England. Achootan seeks a green card less for safe harbor than a feeling of resentment toward the people who have rejected him. Brigitte’s sells fine steaks, which gives Biju pause: “Holy cow. Unholy cow” (150). Indian white-collar workers who dine at Brigitte’s pretend total comfort at eating the holy animal of their home country. Biju learns to cook steak while businessmen discuss the limitless possibilities in Asia. Biju considers how Saeed Saeed won’t eat pork out of deference to his Muslim faith. Biju leaves Brigitte’s, committed to not working at a restaurant that serves beef.

Biju visits several restaurants in search of work. At one he finds an Indian owner speaking over the phone to an Indian salesman who works for AT&T. Biju finds a restaurant called Gandhi Cafe around the corner. He meets the owner Harish-Harry, who considers donating to a New Jersey cow shelter and collecting one of several gifts listed on the paper in front of him. Harish-Harry says Gandhi Cafe is “an all-Hindu establishment“ (155) that serves no beef. He hires Biju to work in the kitchen.

Sai and Gyan dine together, calling each other momo (dumpling). Gyan notices how Sai eats with a utensil and he does not. They visit local attractions, including a sericulture institute, the Darjeeling zoo, and a monastery on Durpin Dara mountain. Gyan asks about Sai’s family, and she tells the abbreviated story of her parents’ meeting and untimely deaths.

Gyan tells Sai his family story starting in the 19th century. His forebears left Nepal and settled on a Darjeeling tea plantation. The Imperial Army arrived and recruited Gyan’s well-built great-grandfather to fight for England. After many years of service, he was killed by Turkish forces in Mesopotamia, and the army offered his spot to his son. Gyan’s grandfather, also a Gorkha, died in Burma in 1943, and his brother took his place but died in Italy.

Gyan has an uncle who fought for the British for many years but would not speak of his years in service before he died. Gyan’s father chose teaching as the new family business. Gyan stops his story abruptly.

On Sai’s way home, Uncle Potty and Father Booty tease her about Gyan. The cook greets Sai at the gates of Cho Oyu, angry that she came home late. Sai protests that he leave her alone, and the cook moans that he’ll be dead soon and Sai will have no one.

At the Gandhi Cafe, Biju finds Harish-Harry to be a shrewd capitalist who serves authentic Indian fare at a popular $5.99 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Harish-Harry’s wife Malini, a shrewd businesswoman herself, comes in to study the books and finds a new cost-cutting measure: housing the staff in the basement below the restaurant. Biju bids goodbye to his Harlem basement, carrying one bag and his rolled-up mattress.

Biju and the other illegal staff use the kitchen as a bathroom for washing and grooming, and the owners extend their hours and cut their wages to account for rent. At night, Biju feels rats trying to nest in his hair.

Harish-Harry behaves at turns kindly and angrily with his staff, but he treats customers with forced friendliness. Biju notices his half-Indian, half-American identity, just like the Indian patrons who visit Gandhi Cafe. When they try to impress their American friends by ordering spicy dishes, the staff makes pitilessly spicy vindaloo for them that makes their eyes water.

Harish-Harry’s daughter has rebelled, Westernizing her attire with combat boots and a nose ring. While Malini thinks Harish-Harry should use physical discipline, he instead pretends to support his daughter. After she mouths off to him, Harish-Harry gets drunk and refuses to leave the cafe. The proprietor says although he feigns friendliness, he would like to break the neck of every customer. He cries on Biju’s shoulder.

Biju takes a liking to Harish-Harry’s capitalist maxims like “another day another dollar” (166). Harish-Harry considers the life he wants, with a mansion and a luxury car, like his enemy Mr. Shah.

Winter comes to Kalimpong. Sai celebrates Christmas with Uncle Potty, Father Booty, Lola, and Noni at Mon Ami, which the sisters have decorated with ornaments. The group eats rich stew and pudding for the party, and all have brought presents to share.

Lola, drunk on rum, tells the group about traveling through the Himalayas in the 1950s and ‘60s. She describes the ancient Tibetan Buddhist monasteries gleaming along the mountains while warding off tropical bugs. She traveled to Thimpu, staying in simple fortresses called dzongs along the way, full of people and “completely self-contained” (170). Father Booty talks about the hot baths he took in a dzong, with a bathtub made from a hollow tree trunk. He returned years later, and the queen in Bhutan insisted he view the new bathroom, now covered with pink tile and modern appliances.

In bed that night, Sai wears her new sherpa socks and remembers seeing a similar pair at a Darjeeling museum she visited with Gyan. He had explained that socks’ owner, a sherpa called Tenzing, was a hero, despite Sir Edmund Hilary receiving all the accolades as the first man atop Everest.