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though they had successfully concluded a business deal. “Bye-bye!” He slammed the skyblue door shut Baby Kochamma wobbled. The crowd around the car unclotted and went on with its march. Baby Kochamma rolled the red flag up and put it on the ledge behind the backseat. She put her rosary back into her blouse where she kept it with her melons. She busied herself with this and that, trying to salvage some dignity After the last few men walked past, Chacko said it was all right now to roll down the windows. “Are you sure it was him?‟ Chacko asked Rahel. `Who?” Rahel said, suddenly cautious. “Are you sure it was Velutha?” “Hmmm…?” Rahel said, playing for time, trying to decipher Estha‟s frantic thought signals. “I said, are you sure that the man you saw was Velutha?” Chacko said for the third time. “Mmm… nyes… m… m… almost,” Rahel said. “You‟re almost sure?” Chacko said. “No… it was almost Vehitha,” Rahel said. “it almost looked like him…” “So you‟re not sure then?” “Almost not.” Rahel slid a look at Estha for approval. “It must have been him,” Baby Kochamma said. “It‟s Trivandrum that‟s done this to him. They all go there and come back thinking they‟re some great politicos.” Nobody seemed particularly impressed by her insight. “We should keep an eye on him,” Baby Kochamrna said. “If he starts this Union business in the factory… I‟ve noticed some signs, some rudeness, some ingratitude. The other day I asked him to help me with the rocks for my scree bed and he–” “I saw Velutha at home before we left,” Estha said brightly. “So how could it be him?” “For his own sake,” Baby Kochamma said, darkly, “I hope it
wasn‟t. And next time, Esthappen, don‟t interrupt.” She was annoyed that nobody asked her what a scree bed was. In the days that followed, Baby Kochamma focused all her fury at her public humiliation on Velutha. She sharpened it like a pencil. In her mind he grew to represent the march. And the man who had forced her to wave the Marxist Party flag. And the man who christened her Modalali Mariakutty. And all the men who had laughed at her. She began to hate him. From the way Ammu held her head, Rahel could tell that she was still angry. Rahel looked at her watch. Ten to two. Still no train. She put her chin on the windowsill. She could feel the gray gristle of the felt that cushioned the window glass pressing into her chinskin. She took off her sunglasses to get a better look at the dead frog squashed on the road. It was so dead and squashed so flat that it looked more like a frog-shaped stain on the road than a frog. Rahel wondered if Miss Mitten had been squashed into a Miss Mitten-shaped stain by the milk truck that killed her. With the certitude of a true believer, Vellya Paapen had assured the twins that there was no such thing in the world as a black cat. He said that there were only black cat-shaped holes in the Universe. There were so many stains on the road. Squashed Miss Mitten-shaped stains in the Universe. Squashed frog-shaped stains in the Universe. Squashed crows that had tried to eat the squashed frog-shaped stains in the Universe. Squashed dogs that ate the squashed crow-shaped stains in the Universe. Feathers. Mangoes. Spit. All the way to Cochin. The sun shone through the Plymouth window directly down at Rahel. She closed her eyes and shone back at it. Even behind her
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Arundhati Roy God of Small Things
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locked. The front verandah bare. Un
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meant for. Free funerals. Of course
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made. Lying broken on the hot churc
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desk and approached Ammu with his b
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still, tea-colored puddles the way
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his life, Khubchand, who had the be
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usiness as the Inevitable Consequen
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sternmouthed nuns seated behind her
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look straight, though it wasn‟t.
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would ask to try on their slippers
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the westernmost verandah of the Kal
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found that the senior sisters monop
Page 28 and 29: peaked red cap. Baby Kochamma spent
Page 30 and 31: with a towel). She even locked her
Page 32 and 33: difficulty that their family had wi
Page 34 and 35: Still, to say that it all began whe
Page 36 and 37: RejOice, And again I say rej-Oice.
Page 38 and 39: money to raise a suitable dowry, no
Page 40 and 41: She didn‟t notice the single Siam
Page 42 and 43: welcomed. To Ammu, her twins seemed
Page 44 and 45: a high-wax shoulder polish. Sometim
Page 46 and 47: Ammu said that the billboard made t
Page 48 and 49: told that his moth had finally been
Page 50 and 51: effeminate pout-the kind that child
Page 52 and 53: and despise ourselves.” “Marry
Page 54 and 55: Earth Woman‟s eye. That Worse Thi
Page 56 and 57: Ammu said. Chacko said, “What‟s
Page 58 and 59: know what Malayalam was. They told
Page 60 and 61: Chacko lit a Charminar. He inhaled
Page 62 and 63: hair. Estha wondered how that could
Page 64 and 65: percent of Kerala‟s population we
Page 66 and 67: Kerala was reeling in the aftermath
Page 68 and 69: A bun. A banana. Another balled fis
Page 70 and 71: Memory was that woman on the train.
Page 72 and 73: Entomology who first noticed little
Page 74 and 75: Vellya Paapen‟s good intentions q
Page 76 and 77: emember Velutha when he left. But i
Page 80 and 81: eyelids the light was bright and ho
Page 82 and 83: and Rahel thought it was a nice pho
Page 84 and 85: Anabs-urd Litt-le Bird Is popping o
Page 86 and 87: them with the boys‟ luggage, his
Page 88 and 89: white-tiled bathroom, with sea-secr
Page 90 and 91: “Will you be okay?” Ammu said,
Page 92 and 93: grandmother‟s cans, Estha Alone o
Page 94 and 95: eathing people and hairoil. And old
Page 96 and 97: In the lobby, the orangedrinks were
Page 98 and 99: Estha went behind the Refreshments
Page 100 and 101: and pointy shoes. “You mustn‟t
Page 102 and 103: the question. I cannot love them. I
Page 104 and 105: “No. Thank you.” Estha looked a
Page 106 and 107: hostess‟s heart trapped in a bear
Page 108 and 109: window. He could taste the hot, sal
Page 110 and 111: “Goodnight,” Estha said, too si
Page 112 and 113: Those last few tortured nights befo
Page 114 and 115: wondered idly if it had indeed been
Page 116 and 117: He stayed in constant touch with th
Page 118 and 119: no more than a swollen drain now. A
Page 120 and 121: labeled with edifying placards that
Page 122 and 123: Rahel tried to walk past unnoticed.
Page 124 and 125: “That is most unfortunate,” he
Page 126 and 127: efore the doctor saw him, and to co
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pressed together, smiles frozen on
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Chacko, who usually wore a mundu, w
Page 132 and 133:
Heel and Toe Heel and Toe Long flat
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Ammu said, “Can you see her, Rahe
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eeze. Adoor Basi, the most popular,
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And Later became a horrible, menaci
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It would bea. “All right,” Ammu
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Ambassador Estha and Ambassador Rah
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“I‟m not,” Rahel said. “You
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Baby Kochamma suggested a car song.
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with spit, and taken half the paper
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and I was Little Nehru. Ammu had co
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white, it means it isn‟t ripe. Wh
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of the eternal fire became a red ro
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Nine steep steps led from the drive
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despised her anyway. Shopkeeper‟s
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on her behind. Kochu Maria‟s fan
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were let down. The gauze doors of t
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Even after her cornea transplant, M
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The man or her own child. Or just t
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“Where‟s Estha Mon?” Velutha
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And truth be told, it was no small
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“Oower Kochamma,” the Blue Army
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Kochamma, who didn‟t answer. “V
Page 176 and 177:
Little Girls Playing. Sweet. One be
Page 178 and 179:
spent a whole day saying. She and E
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Gloom swallowed the garden. Whole.
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performed in the front verandah and
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fire till fruit is soft. Sqweeze ou
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Love-in-Tokyo. She heard a nun‟s
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eceipt for the dues that Velutha pa
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What was Estha sitting on? On what
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Here they learned to Wait. To Watch
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The boat-on-legs approached the hut
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sudden silence from inside. Kuttapp
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“Has Chacko Saar‟s Mol come?”
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Hey Mr Monkey Man Why‟s your BUM
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He squeezed the water out of it (sa
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His skin was salty. Hers too. He le
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“I was happy,” Ammu said, and r
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mentioning his name, she sensed tha
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was taut and smooth. Under her hand
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The bedroom with blue curtains and
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his name on it) that lay open on th
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up-like a bubble. He wrestles it to
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soft and womanly, a man with breast
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mother. The air grew warmer. Less d
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Comrade Pillai. Ayemenem‟s egg-br
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side of her face, making her cheekb
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out on either side of his head like
Page 228 and 229:
hooting, helpless laughter. Meanwhi
Page 230 and 231:
friend he had ever had. Not just th
Page 232 and 233:
Margaret Kochamma was physically at
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comfortable, committed friendship.
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had the keys. She called through th
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“It‟s his eye,” Kochu Maria s
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thoughts with unctuous oils. She bl
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makes fishermen pray. At the Kottay
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could not possibly be, unconnected.
Page 246 and 247:
When Margaret Kochamma saw her litt
Page 248 and 249:
still asleep. Chacko, on his way to
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cupboard stood next to the table. I
Page 252 and 253:
they hung down on either side of he
Page 254 and 255:
snacks. Comrade Pillai, grateful fo
Page 256 and 257:
the house, or perhaps from the mome
Page 258 and 259:
“Yes. He is good worker,” he sa
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completely. “That may be,” he s
Page 262 and 263:
People‟s War joined the racks of
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een flattened into a neat illustrat
Page 266 and 267:
appreciation, and went to the door.
Page 268 and 269:
silver. It took him only a few minu
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expeditions across the river and th
Page 272 and 273:
had gone) to divest his sister-in-l
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to a change of faith. Fifteen years
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A nagging sound started up in his h
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But this time, for Ammu and her two
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The Kottayam Police. A cartoonplato
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slow death of dancers. The toy hist
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history‟s henchmen. Sent to squar
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Still they brought out the handcuff
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“ssenetiloP,” he said. “ssene
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The sight of Baby Kochamma made the
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policeman‟s desk. Estha could see
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mangled genie invoked by a modern l
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erths green. The floor green. The c
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“And Real Teachers teaching.”
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irds go to die? Why don‟t dead on
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chair below the moldy, button-eyed
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She didn‟t see the knob of his he
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with an equal measure of pain. As t
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what seemed like an eternity, but w
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He died of natural causes. That fir
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