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Deirdre Frain
Hema is one of the two protagonists, along with Kaushik, around whom the final three stories in Unaccustomed Earth are centered. Appearing most prominently in “Once in a Lifetime” and “Going Ashore,” Hema’s story is one of a first-generation Bengali American immigrant who spends her life straddling the cultural expectations of Hema’s parents and the pull of her American surroundings. As a professor with a passion for classical languages and history, she’s highly introspective and cautious, driven by a desire for stability and control—especially in her adulthood. After years of being “the other woman” in her decade-long affair with Julian, she chooses to marry Navin, seeing him as a reliable partner who, despite his traditionalism, could provide the family life she longs for. Still, Hema remains unfulfilled in this relationship, yearning for a connection that is less predictable and more profound. When she reconnects with Kaushik—who in many ways represents her unfulfilled childhood dreams—she’s drawn to him not only because of their shared history but because of his inherent understanding of her feelings of cultural disconnection and displacement. With Kaushik, Hema feels free, momentarily shedding her fears and throwing caution to the wind. Though she ultimately chooses to follow through and marry Navin, Kaushik teaches Hema about the preciousness of life, and the unexpected cost of letting go.
Hema Quotes in Unaccustomed Earth
The Unaccustomed Earth quotes below are all either spoken by Hema or refer to Hema. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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6. Hema and Kaushik: Once in a Lifetime Quotes
“They should have known it’s impossible to go back,” they said to their friends, condemning your parents for having failed at both ends. We had stuck it out as immigrants while you had fled; had we been the ones to go back to India, my parents seemed to suggest, we would have stuck it out there as well.
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“It makes me wish we weren’t Hindu, so that my mother could be buried somewhere. But she’s made us promise we’ll scatter her ashes into the Atlantic.”
I looked at you, confused, and so you continued, explaining that there was cancer in her breast, spreading through the rest of her body.
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7. Hema and Kaushik: Year’s End Quotes
But there were too many pictures, and after a few I, like my father, could no longer bear their sight. A slight lessening in the pressure of my fingertips and the ones I was holding would have blown away into that wild sea, scattering down to where my mother’s ashes already resided. [...] so I put them back in the box and began to break the hardened ground.
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8. Hema and Kaushik: Going Ashore Quotes
It was her inability, ultimately, to approach middle age without a husband, without children, with her parents living now on the other side of the world, and yet to own a home and shovel the driveway when it snowed and pay her mortgage bill when it came [...] to abide that life indefinitely that led her to Navin.
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His work depended wholly on the present, and on things yet to come. It was not the repeated resurrection of texts that had already been composed, of a time and people that had passed, and it made Hema aware of the sheltered quality not only of her life but her mind.
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It would be replaced tenfold in the course of her wedding. And yet she felt she had left a piece of her body behind. She had grown up hearing from her mother that losing gold was inauspicious, and as the plane began to climb, [...] a dark thought passed through her, that it would crash or be blasted apart in the sky.
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He wanted to swim to the cove as Henrik had, to show his mother he was not afraid. [...] The sea was as warm and welcoming as a bath. His feet touched the bottom, and so he let go.
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And yet without his even realizing it, firmly but without force, Navin pulled me away from you, as the final gust of autumn wind pulls the last leaves from the trees.
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Get the entire Unaccustomed Earth LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Hema Character Timeline in Unaccustomed Earth
The timeline below shows where the character Hema appears in Unaccustomed Earth. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
6. Hema and Kaushik: Once in a Lifetime
Addressing Kaushik as “you,” Hema recounts the early years of their connection, which began when Kaushik was three and Hema...
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Hema is forced to wear Kaushik’s hand-me-down clothes, including an ugly blue coat that she despises....
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Before the Choudhuris’ arrival, Hema’s parents buy brand-new décor to modernize their home, replacing old pillows, bath towels, and blankets....
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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...
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...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...
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The Choudhuris often bring Hema’s family along when they go house hunting, always viewing grand, sprawling homes far beyond what...
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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...
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7. Hema and Kaushik: Year’s End
...them in a box, and he gives away her clothing and jewels. Kaushik, now addressing Hema as “you,” recalls his final memory of her from this period of his life: she...
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...he drives through. Ashamed of making Rupa and Piu cry, Kaushik recalls another time when Hema also cried because of him. Though the months he spent with Hema’s family were painful,...
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8. Hema and Kaushik: Going Ashore
Hema, now a tenure-track professor at Wellesley, is staying at her colleague Giovanna’s empty apartment in...
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After nearly a decade as “the other woman” with Julian, Hema appreciates Navin’s willingness to center her in his life. She admires his reliability. Their relationship...
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...spots a woman appearing lost on their street. When she turns to him, he’s stunned—it’s Hema.
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At lunch, everyone assumes that Hema and Kaushik must be either long-parted friends or lovers. Kaushik watches Hema intently, appreciating the...
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Hema tells Kaushik that she’s engaged, though she hasn’t known Navin long and only agreed to...
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Hema and Kaushik begin spending most of their time together, Hema willingly setting aside her research...
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Though Hema tells herself that she’ll return to her old life in just a few weeks, and...
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Driving back to Rome, Hema tells Kaushik she can’t go to Hong Kong—she can’t abandon her entire life on a...
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...Kong, Kaushik spends Christmas alone at a resort near Khao Lak, in Thailand. He misses Hema and regrets how he behaved when she refused to move with him. His anger has...
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Now in Calcutta with her mother preparing for her wedding, Hema can’t stop wondering if letting Kaushik go was the biggest mistake of her life. Then...
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