The boy continued, ‘I thought if Dhara Parti was reborn she could come live with us. I think Mummy misses her, so does Ammamma.’

‘We all miss her, Rishi. I don’t know if Dhara Parti will be reborn. That is decided by our karma; do you know what that is?’ he replied.

‘Of course, Parta told me. Do you think the people who hurt Dhara Parti will be reborn?’

She watched Rajan now as he carefully organised his thoughts. He put his arm around his little great-grandson and spoke. ‘Rishi, I think there is greatness and there is God in all of us: in you, and in me; in Dhara Parti and even the people who hurt her. I struggle … to believe in that, but I know I must. I am glad you are beginning your relationship with God so early in your life—keep going, it will sustain you in the years to come.’

Rishi thought about this for a moment and then kissed his great-grandfather. ‘Thank you, Poota, you sound like Yoda.’ With that, he got up and ran out. They had no idea who Yoda was, but they both laughed.

As she did every year, Nala had prepared a small shrine in the living room. A coconut was placed in an old steel pot filled with water and adorned with mango leaves. The pot sat on a bed of uncooked rice; her mother’s paddy.

‘If you sow it,’ her mother had said to her, ‘it will grow fields of new rice.’

She remembered packing the paddy, decades ago. It had crossed oceans with her, survived a pogrom and even Australian Customs Officials.

The family stood around the shrine. For each child, grandchild and great-grandchild, she had assembled a betel leaf. She placed a token amount of money on each leaf, just a note and a coin, with a small smudge of holy ash on top. She had also made one for Dhara, as she did every year.

Rajan gave each leaf to his family slowly, concentrating hard to control the shake in his hands. It was their blessing for the Tamil New Year—and a symbol of abundance, not wealth—from the hands of someone who had been greatly blessed himself.

CHAPTER 23

Rajan picked up the photograph. The sepia had started to fade but the clarity of the image remained in his mind. The girls were dressed in their best hand-smocked outfits with Nandan in a sailor suit. In the evenings, when Rajan returned home from work, they went to the beach at Galle Face Green together. Walking along the promenade they ran into friends. The children cajoled him into buying ice creams while they played.

All the adults, except Rajan, chatted and laughed together. He just kept a watchful eye on the children as they wet the hems of their dresses in the water. When they went too far, he called to Nala to shout at them. He rarely shouted himself.