Tania sat next to Nandita bua amidst the neighboring women surrounding them. The living room was no longer how her mother had decorated it. Sofa chairs and the glass topped coffee table were replaced by sheets laid out on the carpet.

At the other end of the room, where the men sat, her father and Daadu folded their hands in response to a neighbor who had gotten up to leave. She hated this endless procession of visitors. People coming in, folding their hands, sitting down and ...