Unaccustomed Earth

by

Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth: 6. Hema and Kaushik: Once in a Lifetime Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Addressing Kaushik as “you,” Hema recounts the early years of their connection, which began when Kaushik was three and Hema wasn’t yet born. Their mothers meet in a park in Cambridge when Kaushik’s mother, Parul, notices Hema’s mother in a sari. They bond quickly, though their upbringings in Calcutta were dissimilar: Parul lived in a large home with a rooftop garden, while Hema’s mother lived in a flat above a Punjabi restaurant. Hema recalls the first time she noticed Kaushik as a fixture in her life, during the farewell party Hema’s parents throw when Kaushik’s family, the Choudhuris, choose to return to India in 1974.
Hema’s use of the second-person point of view creates an intimate, confessional tone, framing her connection with Kaushik as deeply meaningful. She highlights their interconnected families and histories, though their mothers’ contrasting upbringings hint at underlying class differences. Notably, the first time Hema truly remembers Kaushik is also when she must say goodbye to him. While farewells typically signify an ending, in Hema and Kaushik’s case, this farewell is actually a beginning.
Themes
Cultural Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
Family and Generational Conflict Theme Icon
Love, Loss, and Nostalgia Theme Icon
Home and Belonging Theme Icon
Hema is forced to wear Kaushik’s hand-me-down clothes, including an ugly blue coat that she despises. As time passes, she outgrows all of these hand-me-downs, and her family gradually stops talking about Kaushik’s family altogether. But on New Year’s Day in 1981, Kaushik’s father, Dr. Choudhuri, phones, informing Hema’s family that they’re moving back to Massachusetts and asking to stay at Hema’s home while they find a place to live. Hema’s parents assume that something went wrong in India, judging the Choudhuris for being unable to “stick it out.” Hema is forced to give up her room to the now 16-year-old Kaushik during their stay, and she’s extremely unhappy with these arrangements.
Wearing Kaushik’s old clothes forces Hema to essentially live in his shadow, a subtle connection that links them even as they’re thousands of miles apart. That’s not to say it's comfortable for Hema, though—at this point, she resents their connection. When the Choudhuris announce their return years later, Hema’s parents’ judgmental attitude hints at the cracks in their friendship, perhaps stemming from their resentment or discomfort with the Choudhuris’ seemingly sudden decision.
Themes
Cultural Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
Family and Generational Conflict Theme Icon
Love, Loss, and Nostalgia Theme Icon
Home and Belonging Theme Icon
Quotes
Before the Choudhuris’ arrival, Hema’s parents buy brand-new décor to modernize their home, replacing old pillows, bath towels, and blankets. Hema hides her favorite, most personal possessions in a suitcase where Kaushik won’t find them. When the Choudhuris arrive, Hema is struck by Kaushik’s handsomeness and develops an instant crush. Shyly, she shows him to her room, where he slips out her window and onto the roof, taking in the night air. Later, lying on a cot in her parents’ bedroom, Hema overhears them criticizing how “American” the Choudhuris have become and how much Bombay changed them. They fly first class, drink Johnnie Walker, and dress “stylishly”—all terrible things, in the eyes of Hema’s parents.
Hema’s parents’ redecorating before the Choudhuris arrive reflects their insecurity and desire to impress their friends, rooted in an awareness of the class differences between the two families. Their critical remarks about the Choudhuris’ lavish, Westernized habits hint at a resentment that transcends geographical distance, revealing their betrayal at what they see as the Choudhuris’ abandonment of their shared Bengali culture.
Themes
Cultural Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
Kaushik is drawn to the woods behind Hema’s house, exploring them despite Hema’s warning that a child recently went missing there and her own mother won’t allow her to go. The Choudhuris confess to Hema’s parents that Kaushik didn’t want to leave Bombay, and this is why he’s so isolated and aloof. On a trip to the mall to buy bras for Kaushik’s mother—whose suitcase was lost by the airline—she surprises Hema by purchasing Hema her first bras, despite the protests of Hema’s mother. She also buys herself a few luxury items, things Hema’s mother finds “self-indulgent.”
Kaushik’s attraction to the woods reveals his discomfort with confinement and preference for solitude. His fearlessness clashes with Hema’s more cautious nature, reflecting the differing ways they respond to authority and fear. The bra shopping trip with Parul demonstrates her relating to Hema in a way that Hema’s own mother never has. This new bond, though objectively positive, only deepens the growing divide between Hema’s parents and the Choudhuris, a shift that Hema observes but doesn’t yet understand.
Themes
Cultural Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
Family and Generational Conflict Theme Icon
Loneliness and Isolation Theme Icon
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Soon, Dr. Choudhuri begins his new engineering position and purchases himself an Audi. Kaushik, who’s waiting to begin school again until his parents decide where they’re moving, spends his days at home with the mothers. He and Hema couldn’t be more different from each other, and she’s mildly offended by his total disinterest in her life. One day, when Parul comes down with the flu, Hema accidentally walks in on her in the bathroom smoking a cigarette, flustering them both. Quickly putting it out, Parul touches up her lipstick and sprays some perfume, casually asking Hema to keep this moment a secret.
Between Dr. Choudhuri’s new car and Parul’s secret smoking habit, Kaushik’s parents seem to have developed a fondness for indulgence. When Hema catches Parul smoking, she glimpses her more complex, shielded personal identity. Parul’s request to keep this moment a secret reveals a side of her that defies the poised image she usually projects, making her more exciting and relatable to Hema—in a way that her own mother isn’t.
Themes
Cultural Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
Family and Generational Conflict Theme Icon
The Choudhuris often bring Hema’s family along when they go house hunting, always viewing grand, sprawling homes far beyond what Hema’s parents could ever afford. Now, a month into their stay, Hema’s parents are frustrated by the Choudhuris’ imposition, which they hadn’t expected to last so long. They’re embarrassed by their own modest home and upset that the people who were once their best friends now seem like strangers. Tension builds between the two families, but Hema remains unbothered, too consumed by her crush on Kaushik to mind his family’s strange behavior. She dreams about kissing him and secretly keeps his photo in her diary.
By including Hema’s family in their search for a home, the Choudhuris inadvertently underscore the widening social and financial divides between their families. Hema’s parents are gracious enough to allow the Choudhuris to stay in their home indefinitely, but they feel as though their loyalty has been taken advantage of. Hema, meanwhile, remains shielded from the growing strain around her—in this bubble, she’s free to focus on Kaushik, her first experience of adolescent longing.
Themes
Cultural Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
Family and Generational Conflict Theme Icon
Home and Belonging Theme Icon
During the first snowfall since the Choudhuris’ arrival, everyone’s spirits seem to be lifted. Hema’s mother makes a large meal, and Parul, who hasn’t been helping as often in the kitchen, pitches in. Even Kaushik seems happier, playfully throwing snowballs at Hema in the yard the following day. He takes her into the woods and shows her a hidden spot where he’s discovered a family’s tombstones. There, he confesses that his mother has terminal breast cancer—that’s why they left India—and asks Hema not to tell her parents, as she wants to die in peace. Hema cries, and Kaushik silently watches. The Choudhuris soon buy a house and finally move out. Within two years, Parul is dead.
The snow brings a welcome reprieve from the growing tension between the two families. It also brings the clarity of a confession: Kaushik finally reveals his mother’s cancer diagnosis to Hema at the secluded grave site, a setting that mirrors his emotional landscape. This confession marks a turning point, binding Kaushik and Hema as they grieve together. The Choudhuris’ departure and Parul’s passing cement this episode as a formative period for Hema, shaping her understanding of loss and the impermanence of even close relationships.
Themes
Family and Generational Conflict Theme Icon
Love, Loss, and Nostalgia Theme Icon
Loneliness and Isolation Theme Icon
Quotes