CHAPTER FIFTEEN

                                                           Loss of Memory

"Mother! She is awake!’’ Nadia ran to her mother in excitement to break the good news. Her family had long been waiting for the stranger to get out of her comatose state that lasted for four weeks. The major sign of improvement that kept them hopeful was her mumbling of words. For the past four weeks, she had been in seemingly deep sleep under the care of Kamala and her family. Kamala was a medicine woman married to Mr. Barad, a Koli fisher and graduate living in a village near Worli, a posh city in Mumbai. They both had a child they named Nadia, and had been finding it difficult to conceive again after her birth, nine years ago.

Mr. Barad had g