#277 Ring of Spices- Sandip Roy

#277 Ring of Spices- Sandip Roy

 Romola and Avinash are getting married. She lives in Calcutta, he is getting his PhD in Illinois. It is being arranged by their parents, it is their duty to their families. As these things go, there is little in the way of courtship, and there is a lot of awkward  feeling out between the two.

After the wedding, they move into his apartment near campus. It is her first time in America. She always dreamed of traveling to England (at least the England she knew from Wordsworth), this was not the same thing. Adjusting to this new life was not easy.

“For a moment she longed to be back in here bedroom in Calcutta. She wanted the hum of traffic around her. the sudden blare of horns, the voices of people walking on the street at all hours of the day, snatches of conversation trailing through the air, the yapping dogs, the cheerfully noisy night. Here the night felt almost naked in its silence, filling the room with just the harsh sound of his breath and the drumbeat of her heart.”

She longed for word from back home, so when she finally saw a letter from India she tore it open without seeing that it was addressed to her new husband. The letter was an angry, jealous plea from a former lover, that may actually be another man.

This story is quietly emotional, and we quickly get inside the head of Romola. Her life is full of the senses, and her perception her surroundings is profoundly aromatic.

Notable Passage: “Tomorrow it will be better. Desire will come. Desire will grow.”

Rating: 9-8-8-8 Total= 33