For children: Child widow Aru’s life changes when she’s offered a job at the landlord’s house

It’s been a little more than a month.

I almost miss the grief. I miss the nights when I woke up, sobbing so violently I could barely breathe, feeling as though the world was ending, must end, because it would be too cruel for it to go on.

Now that I’m calmer and I know the world isn’t ending, all I can see is the long stretch of empty years before me.

The day Amma shaved my head for the first time was difficult. She started by cutting my hair. My braids lay around me in dark coils. There was almost a sense of comfort in seeing them – my ruined dreams given physical form. I’ve shaved it once more since then. What would I achieve by letting my hair grow out? Who would appreciate a widow’s hair? Who would even see it?

The mirazdar’s wife came to visit me after I’d had my head shaved. It’s a great honour – she never goes to any of the village houses, and she came all the way inside and looked at me and even brought her daughter with her. It’s a sign of the high regard in which everyone held Sundaram. She said as much;...

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