Chapter 28: Grandparents, Part 1 — Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
In this short, lyrical chapter, Reha reflects on the two grandparents she never truly knew. Her maternal grandfather died when she was only four years old. The single memory she retains is a train ride: he held her on his lap, his warm hands covering hers, and spoke to her in Tamil—a language she no longer speaks. She cannot recall the words he said, only the sound of his voice in her ear, her head against his shoulder, and the brown-and-green countryside rattling past the window.
Her maternal grandmother, whom Reha calls pati, died much earlier—when Reha's mother, Amma, was still a teenager, barely older than Reha is now. This happened long before Amma married or had children. Amma shows Reha photographs of her mother, and even in unsmiling black-and-white images, Reha can see a hint of laughter in her pati's eyes. Amma describes how her mother filled their house with music and good food, and how her illness gradually pulled her into a world of pain where her husband and daughters could no longer reach her. The chapter ends with the weight of that loss: the grandmother left her family bereft, and the memory of her warmth lingers in the stories and photographs Amma shares.
Key Events
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Reha reveals that her maternal grandfather died when she was four.
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She recounts her only memory of him: a train ride where he held her and spoke Tamil.
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She notes that she no longer speaks Tamil and cannot remember what he said.
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Reha explains that her maternal grandmother died when Amma was a teenager, before Amma married or had children.
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Amma shows Reha photographs of her mother, and Reha notices laughter in her pati's eyes despite the unsmiling poses.
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Amma tells Reha how her mother filled the house with music and good food, and how illness eventually made her unreachable.
Character Development
Reha – This chapter deepens Reha's connection to her family's past. She acknowledges the gaps in her memory—she cannot recall her grandfather's words or speak his language—yet she treasures the sensory fragments she does have: his voice, his warmth, the motion of the train. Her observation that her pati's eyes hold laughter even in serious photographs shows her ability to read emotion and find connection across time. Reha is also beginning to understand her mother's grief; Amma lost her mother at an age close to Reha's own, which creates a quiet parallel between mother and daughter.
Amma – Though Amma appears only through her actions and words, we see her as a daughter carrying loss. She chooses to share photographs and stories with Reha, passing down the memory of her own mother. Her description of her mother's illness and the family's helplessness reveals a vulnerability that contrasts with her usual composed demeanor.
The grandparents – Though they are not present, they are characterized through memory. The grandfather is gentle and loving, speaking in Tamil and holding Reha close. The grandmother is vibrant—filled with music and good food—and her illness is described as a slow sinking into pain, leaving her family bereft.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Grief and Loss – The chapter is steeped in loss: the grandfather's death, the grandmother's death, and the ongoing grief Amma carries. Reha's own grief is more abstract—she mourns the grandparents she barely knew and the memories she cannot access.
Memory and Forgetting – Reha's memory of her grandfather is reduced to a single sensory moment. She cannot remember his words, only his voice and the feeling of being held. This highlights how memory can be both vivid and incomplete. The photographs of her pati serve as a different kind of memory—one preserved in images and stories rather than personal experience.
Language and Cultural Identity – Tamil is a key symbol. Reha no longer speaks it, yet it was the language of her grandfather's love. Her inability to understand his words underscores the distance between her and her heritage, even as she yearns for connection.
Love Transcending Memory – Even without clear memories, Reha feels love from her grandfather—she says he “filled me with his love.” Similarly, the laughter in her pati's eyes suggests a warmth that survives in photographs. Love persists even when details fade.
Family Legacy – The chapter shows how stories and photographs pass down a family's emotional history. Amma's act of sharing her mother with Reha is a way of keeping the grandmother alive.
Illness and Death – The grandmother's illness is described as a force that isolates her, making her unreachable. This echoes the broader theme of illness that runs through the novel, particularly Reha's own struggles with health and identity.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter provides crucial backstory for Reha's family and deepens the emotional landscape of the novel. It introduces the grandparents who, though absent, shape Reha's sense of self and her relationship with her mother. The parallel between Amma losing her mother as a teenager and Reha's own coming-of-age journey is significant—it suggests that grief and resilience are inherited. The chapter also reinforces the novel's central tensions around language, memory, and cultural identity. Reha's inability to speak Tamil and her fragmented memories of her grandfather highlight the generational gaps that she must navigate. By showing how Amma preserves her mother's memory through photographs and stories, the chapter emphasizes the importance of remembrance and the ways love can outlast loss.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Reha describe her grandfather's memory as being only a train ride? What does this reveal about her relationship to her heritage?
Reha's only memory of her grandfather is a single sensory experience: being held on his lap, hearing his voice in Tamil, and watching the countryside pass. This reveals that her connection to him—and to the Tamil language and culture he represented—is fragile and largely inaccessible. She cannot recall his words, only the feeling of being loved. This highlights the theme of language and cultural identity: Reha is separated from her heritage by time and language loss, yet the emotional imprint remains.
2. How does Amma's sharing of photographs and stories affect Reha's understanding of her grandmother?
Through the photographs and Amma's descriptions, Reha gains a sense of her pati's personality—her laughter, her love of music and food, her warmth. Even though Reha never met her grandmother, she can see the hint of laughter in her eyes and imagine the life she led. This helps Reha feel connected to a woman she never knew and also deepens her empathy for Amma, who lost her mother at a young age.
3. What parallels can be drawn between Amma's loss of her mother and Reha's own experiences in the novel?
Amma lost her mother when she was a teenager, just as Reha is now. This parallel suggests that grief and the process of growing up are intertwined. Reha is also dealing with her own identity and health struggles, and learning about her mother's loss may help her understand that pain and resilience are part of her family's legacy. The chapter hints that Reha's journey is not isolated but connected to the generations before her.
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