Previous
Chitra
Rupa and Piu are Chitra’s daughters and Kaushik’s stepsisters, introduced in “Year’s End.” Polite and attentive young girls, they try to be friendly and welcoming toward Kaushik. Though the three initially bond, Kaushik ultimately views them as unwelcome reminders of Dr. Chaudhury’s perceived betrayal, and he struggles to accept them as anything but intruders in his life. They remind him of the life his father chose to move forward with, further deepening his sense of alienation and unresolved grief over Parul’s passing.
Rupa and Piu Quotes in Unaccustomed Earth
The Unaccustomed Earth quotes below are all either spoken by Rupa and Piu or refer to Rupa and Piu. 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:
).
7. Hema and Kaushik: Year’s End Quotes
They would recall all of this, perhaps not as clearly as I remember those first months at your parents’ home, but nevertheless they would remember. Like them I had lost a parent and was now being asked to accept a replacement. I wondered how well they remembered their father; Piu would only have been five at the time.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Unaccustomed Earth LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Rupa and Piu Character Timeline in Unaccustomed Earth
The timeline below shows where the character Rupa and Piu appears in Unaccustomed Earth. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
7. Hema and Kaushik: Year’s End
...during her illness. Chitra immediately places an array of Indian food before him. Her daughters, Rupa and Piu, appear, and Dr. Choudhuri suggests they call Kaushik “KD”—Kaushik Dada, or “brother Kaushik”...
(full context)
Kaushik, relegated to the guest bedroom while Rupa and Piu occupy his old room, finds his new family’s presence inconvenient. When Chitra offers...
(full context)
Later that evening, Kaushik dozes off in the living room and wakes to see Chitra, Rupa, and Piu braiding their hair. The sight “repulses” him, reminding him of Parul’s hair loss...
(full context)
...Chitra are invited to a New Year’s party by Bengali friends, Kaushik offers to watch Rupa and Piu for the evening. After dinner, while wrapping up a conversation with Jessica, he...
(full context)
When Kaushik calls Dr. Choudhuri from a payphone the next day, he realizes that Rupa and Piu never told Chitra or his father the horrible things he said to them....
(full context)
...he finds a secluded spot and stares at the box of Parul’s photos—the same box Rupa and Piu had discovered. Unable to bear seeing the pictures again, he buries the box...
(full context)
8. Hema and Kaushik: Going Ashore
...Dr. Choudhuri, and his “new” family on the rare occasions he finds himself in Massachusetts. Rupa has married and works as an elementary school art teacher, and Piu is in medical...
(full context)
