The Inheritance of Loss

The cook escorts Sai to her thrice-weekly tutoring at Mon Ami and drops off his homemade chhang liquor to sell at a restaurant called Gompu’s. In town the cook distorts the truth about the judge to make himself look like a more adored, better-paid servant than he actually he is. The cook tells townspeople that the judge lost his former glory after the martyrdom of his wife, saying, “That’s why he sits by himself all day and every day” (63). The cook also inflates stories about the judge when young Sai joins him to prepare meals in the kitchen.

Hearing the cook, the judge recalls his actual biography. He was born in the village of Piphit to parents of the peasant caste in 1919. His father made a living by finding false witnesses for local court cases. As a child, the judge studied at Bishop Cotton School, and his mother woke him early every morning for a bath and extra studying. The young judge was a prodigy who soaked up every piece of information in school and graduated high school at age 14. The judge’s teachers recommended the civil service to his father. After graduating from Cambridge, the judge’s first placement was far from his hometown in the province of Uttar Pradesh.