Homeless Bird (10 page)

I told Mr. Das about the room Raji had built for me.

“Ah, that is good. Every few months you will come to see me, and I will give you work to take back to your room. But will you not have a house to care for? Meals to cook? Children whining for this or that? Will you have time for the work?”

“I’ll make time,” I promised. “The house will not always be so clean, the cooking may be a little hasty, and the whining children will sit on my lap and I’ll sing to them while I work.”

Mr. Das laughed. “If you make that a promise, I’ll give you a sari for your dowry.”

Tanu wasn’t taking the news of my leaving so well. “You are lucky,” she said, and her voice was bitter. “Where will I find a man who will marry a widow? And who will take your place here and pay so much rent?” Because I made more money than Tanu did, I paid a greater share. At Maa Kamala’s place we learned of two girls who were looking for a room, and they were happy to join Tanu.

“Still, it won’t be the same,” Tanu said.

As much as I was looking forward to my marriage, I knew how much I would miss Tanu. “I’ll see you when I bring my work to Mr. Das,” I promised, “and you can come and visit us in the country.”

Tanu shook her head. “I’ll see you here, but you won’t get me near the country. It’s full of snakes.”

The rains had come. In his letters Raji told how green everything was. He wrote proudly of how the government agent had brought other farmers to see how well his crops were doing. Sometimes, he said, he looked into the room he had built for me, hoping to see me there. How soon would the quilt be finished?

In my answer I wrote that the quilt was almost done. “No more than a week or so,” I promised. More and more my thoughts flew to Raji, and I stayed up late in the evenings, finishing the quilt.

At Mr. Das’s workshop we listened to the rain beat steadily on the tin roof. We were snug and comfortable in our workroom, teaching one another stitches, trading gossip, telling one another our plans. The workroom and the women in it had become a part of me. All the while I stitched, I thought of how lucky I had been to find Raji, and how without him my life would have been very different. Even in my happiness my thoughts sometimes wandered to Sass. I thought that because of her sharp tongue and unloving ways, she would not find a welcome in her brother’s home. Poor Sass.

Mr. Das must have told Mrs. Devi that I was to be married. The next time she came to the store, she said to Mr. Das, “I must have the first sari Koly embroiders in her new home. You will give her a length of king’s muslin to take with her.” She smiled at me. “Koly, will you find something for the border in one of Tagore’s poems?”

Immediately I knew that it would be the homeless bird, flying at last to its home.

Koly speaks Hindi, which is one of many languages spoken in India. Here are definitions of some of the words you will find in this book.

baap:
father.

bahus:
daughter-in-law.

bhagat:
a practitioner of folk medicine.

bhang:
leaves and flowers of the hemp plant.

Brahman:
the highest Hindu caste.

caste:
a social rank or division into which Hindu society is divided.

chapati:
unleavened bread baked on a griddle.

charpoy:
a wooden bed frame laced with rope.

choli:
a short-sleeved blouse worn under a sari.

chula:
a stove of baked clay sometimes with a tin oven.

dal
(or
dhal
): a spiced sauce of pureed lentils.

darshan:
experiencing a religious feeling by being exposed to a sacred object or place such as the Ganges River.

gataka:
a person who arranges marriages.

ghat:
wide steps usually leading down to a river.

ghee:
butter that has been heated and had the milky substance poured off.

kameez:
a long, loose shirt.

kautuka:
a yellow woolen thread worn by a bride around her wrist.

kohl:
a powder used as an eyeliner and to darken the eyebrows.

Krishna:
a Hindu god.

kurta pajama:
a long shirt and loose pants.

lassi:
a drink made with yogurt and fruits and spices. Ice is often added.

maa:
mother.

mantra:
a word or phrase repeated or sung over and over, often as a religious devotion.

masala:
a blend of spices such as cinnamon, saffron, cloves, peppercorns, and cumin ground together to flavor food.

namaskar:
a greeting accompanied by holding the palms together at chest level to greet equals and at the forehead for someone who is greatly honored.

phul-khana:
a traditional wedding veil.

poori:
bread that has been fried in hot oil until it puffs. It’s often stuffed with vegetables and spices.

puja:
a Hindu ceremony of religious worship.

Rama:
a Hindu god.

rupee:
a unit of money; about 43 rupees are equal to today’s American dollar.

sadhu:
a holy man.

salwar:
loose slacks.

samosa:
a little turnover; samosas are made with a variety of fillings.

sari:
a length of cloth, traditionally 6 meters, wrapped to make a skirt and then draped over the shoulder and the head.

sass:
mother-in-law.

sassur:
father-in-law.

shikanji:
a drink of lime and ginger juice.

sitar:
a stringed instrument.

tabla:
a set of two drums.

tali:
a tray.

tikka mark:
a round vermilion mark painted on the forehead, symbol of the third eye of wisdom; also a kind of beauty mark.

The Vedas:
the Hindu sacred writings.

wallah:
a person who is in charge; often someone who has something for sale.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was one of India’s greatest poets. Tagore also wrote plays and stories, composed music, and worked for India’s independence from Great Britain. In 1913 he received the Nobel Prize for literature
.