Noni was suffused with a helpless jealousy against the thing that had stolen her mommy. Not even his pappa's hugs and his stories about an elephant who fell in love with a steam engine diminished her hurt. "Come my cutie Bandaria, I'll tell you a story about the Lakshaman Jhula bridge. It is hundreds of years old. It is made of wood and rope and prayers. With faith and ambition. It hangs like a dream on the River Ganga. Noni, babu are you listening?"
She closed her ears to her father's tale and asked instead, "Pappa, why is mommy so quiet? Does she have a ghost in her? Ayyah told me ghosts occupy beautiful woman's body. Mummy is so beautiful" "Oh my child. Your mommy isn't a ghost. She loves you but you are too heavy for her. She has a baby inside her tummy now"
Noni had three months to get used to the idea of having another child in the house.