You Bring the Distant Near

The narrative moves ahead to 1976. A hit-and-run driver kills Baba while he is out cycling. Two weeks after his cremation, about 30 Bengali people, including Big Harm and her husband, gather at the Das family’s home for Baba’s shradh ceremony. The guests assume that Ma will move back to Calcutta (Kolkata) and marry her daughters off. Sonia tries to cope with the loss by telling herself that her father is simply away on a trip. She hasn’t been able to read, write, or even cry since Baba’s death, and her mother hasn’t spoken a word. Watching her mother offer incense to statues of the goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Kali reminds Sonia of her father’s disinterest in that form of worship and his belief in a benevolent Creator. He once told her, “A mathematical Mind, the greatest Mind of all, a Mind full of perfection and love—this type of Mind is behind all of creation” (106). However, Sonia finds it difficult to believe in an omnibenevolent deity after her father’s death.

The Hindu priest, or purohit, is ill, so he sends his 25-year-old son, Mohan, to perform the ceremony in his place. The young man is dressed like a “hippie,” knows little about the ritual he is meant to be performing, and suggests that one of Baba’s daughters recite the prayers with him even though only the oldest son is traditionally permitted to do so.