The phone rang. “I’m calling from The Hindu office. Is this Geetha’s house?” My heart raced with excitement. “Yes, this is Uthra, Geetha’s mother,” I replied. “We would like to interview Geetha today at 10 AM…” I was overjoyed. The Plus Two results were out, and Geetha had achieved remarkable success—she was the second-highest scorer in the entire state of Tamil Nadu...
Chinnu, Kutty Chinnu, come give me a hand,” called out Kalyani. A lean 7-year-old boy with twinkling eyes came running from the garden, where he had been plucking semi-ripe guavas from a medium-sized tree. He dropped the cloth bag with the guavas on the ground and deftly lifted the wicker basket filled with cucumbers, helping his mother place it on her head. The...