Unaccustomed Earth

Addressing Kaushik as “you,” Hema recounts the early years of their connection, which began when Kaushik was three and Hema wasn’t yet born. Their mothers meet in a park in Cambridge when Kaushik’s mother, Parul, notices Hema’s mother in a sari. They bond quickly, though their upbringings in Calcutta were dissimilar: Parul lived in a large home with a rooftop garden, while Hema’s mother lived in a flat above a Punjabi restaurant. Hema recalls the first time she noticed Kaushik as a fixture in her life, during the farewell party Hema’s parents throw when Kaushik’s family, the Choudhuris, choose to return to India in 1974.

Hema is forced to wear Kaushik’s hand-me-down clothes, including an ugly blue coat that she despises. As time passes, she outgrows all of these hand-me-downs, and her family gradually stops talking about Kaushik’s family altogether. But on New Year’s Day in 1981, Kaushik’s father, Dr. Choudhuri, phones, informing Hema’s family that they’re moving back to Massachusetts and asking to stay at Hema’s home while they find a place to live. Hema’s parents assume that something went wrong in India, judging the Choudhuris for being unable to “stick it out.” Hema is forced to give up her room to the now 16-year-old Kaushik during their stay, and she’s extremely unhappy with these arrangements.

Before the Choudhuris’ arrival, Hema’s parents buy brand-new décor to modernize their home, replacing old pillows, bath towels, and blankets. Hema hides her favorite, most personal possessions in a suitcase where Kaushik won’t find them. When the Choudhuris arrive, Hema is struck by Kaushik’s handsomeness and develops an instant crush. Shyly, she shows him to her room, where he slips out her window and onto the roof, taking in the night air. Later, lying on a cot in her parents’ bedroom, Hema overhears them criticizing how “American” the Choudhuris have become and how much Bombay changed them. They fly first class, drink Johnnie Walker, and dress “stylishly”—all terrible things, in the eyes of Hema’s parents.

Kaushik is drawn to the woods behind Hema’s house, exploring them despite Hema’s warning that a child recently went missing there and her own mother won’t allow her to go. The Choudhuris confess to Hema’s parents that Kaushik didn’t want to leave Bombay, and this is why he’s so isolated and aloof. On a trip to the mall to buy bras for Kaushik’s mother—whose suitcase was lost by the airline—she surprises Hema by purchasing Hema her first bras, despite the protests of Hema’s mother. She also buys herself a few luxury items, things Hema’s mother finds “self-indulgent.”

Soon, Dr. Choudhuri begins his new engineering position and purchases himself an Audi. Kaushik, who’s waiting to begin school again until his parents decide where they’re moving, spends his days at home with the mothers. He and Hema couldn’t be more different from each other, and she’s mildly offended by his total disinterest in her life. One day, when Parul comes down with the flu, Hema accidentally walks in on her in the bathroom smoking a cigarette, flustering them both. Quickly putting it out, Parul touches up her lipstick and sprays some perfume, casually asking Hema to keep this moment a secret.

The Choudhuris often bring Hema’s family along when they go house hunting, always viewing grand, sprawling homes far beyond what Hema’s parents could ever afford. Now, a month into their stay, Hema’s parents are frustrated by the Choudhuris’ imposition, which they hadn’t expected to last so long. They’re embarrassed by their own modest home and upset that the people who were once their best friends now seem like strangers. Tension builds between the two families, but Hema remains unbothered, too consumed by her crush on Kaushik to mind his family’s strange behavior. She dreams about kissing him and secretly keeps his photo in her diary.

During the first snowfall since the Choudhuris’ arrival, everyone’s spirits seem to be lifted. Hema’s mother makes a large meal, and Parul, who hasn’t been helping as often in the kitchen, pitches in. Even Kaushik seems happier, playfully throwing snowballs at Hema in the yard the following day. He takes her into the woods and shows her a hidden spot where he’s discovered a family’s tombstones. There, he confesses that his mother has terminal breast cancer—that’s why they left India—and asks Hema not to tell her parents, as she wants to die in peace. Hema cries, and Kaushik silently watches. The Choudhuris soon buy a house and finally move out. Within two years, Parul is dead.