The Bridge Home

“As I gazed at Amma's trembling chin, I realized how different we were. Amma trusted that if she put up with things, she'd be rewarded with another, better life after she died. It made no sense to me why any God who made us suffer in this life would start caring for us in the next. If I wanted a better future, I needed to change the life we had. Now. The more I thought about our differences, the surer I felt that I could protect you better than she could. She hadn't tried to stop Appa from beating us. All she'd done was beg. I would never become like her, I promised myself. I'd never beg anyone for anything.”

This is Viji’s reflection on the conversation she has just had with her mother, Amma, after her father, Appa, beat his wife and both daughters in a drunken rage. This is the first of many occasions in which Viji points out the hypocrisy of religions and the futility of prayer. It is also the first of several occasions in which she voices her unwillingness to beg, no matter how dire her circumstances become. This is an instant of revelation for her as well, leading to her decision that she will take her sister Rukku in the morning while her parents are sleeping and run away.

“It was beginning to get dark, but I could make out a boy marching up the bridge. He reminded me of a sunflower. Matted hair that looked like it had never met a comb stuck out like petals around a face that seemed much too large for his skinny body. He wore an oversize yellow T-shirt and a raggedy pair of shorts and held a bag and a wooden stick.”

After a tumultuous first day in the teeming city, Viji leads Rukku to a dilapidated bridge where some homeless individuals have set up a shelter. This passage records their first vision of Muthu, a younger boy whose demand that they leave is toothless. This introduction highlights the mentality Viji and Rukku will witness from their peers without homes as they learn to fend for themselves. Most are overly defensive, to ward off further traumatic interactions.