Unaccustomed Earth

The narrator begins the story by telling us, “After her mother’s death, Ruma’s father retired from the pharmaceutical company where he had worked for many decades and began traveling in Europe, a continent he’d never seen” (3). In so doing, we are introduced to the two main characters in the story: Ruma, and her father, whose name we never learn. Ruma’s mother, whose name also remains unknown, could be said to also be a character within the story, though she is no longer alive.

Ruma’s father, who will now be referred to as “RF,” has visited France, Holland, and Italy most recently. He has done so on package tours. Ruma has kept printouts of his itineraries each time, careful to check for any news of plane crashes on the days he’s scheduled to travel. He occasionally sends postcards during his travels. Each of his correspondences have been terse and impersonal: “Yesterday the Uffizi Gallery. Today a walk to the other side of the Arno. A trip to Siena scheduled tomorrow” (4). He is never in one place for long enough for Ruma to write back. These postcards remind Ruma of the telegrams that her parents would send to their relatives when the family would come home to Pennsylvania after their trips to Calcutta.