Unaccustomed Earth Summary

Unaccustomed Earth is a two-part collection of eight short stories exploring the Indian immigrant experience, with the final three stories comprising a trilogy about the lifelong connection between two characters named Hema and Kaushik.

In the title story, “Unaccustomed Earth,” Ruma prepares for Ruma’s father’s first visit following the death of Ruma’s mother. Newly pregnant, she frets about inviting him to live with her family in Seattle—a cultural custom that her more traditional mother would have expected, had Ruma’s father passed away first. Unbeknownst to Ruma, her father has come to enjoy his newfound independence, taking long trips to Europe and seeing a new woman, Mrs. Bagchi, a fact he intentionally keeps hidden from his daughter. During his stay, he bonds with Akash, Ruma’s young son, teaching him Bengali words as they spend the week planting a garden together in Ruma’s backyard.

Ruma and her father connect in a way they were unable to while her mother was alive, discovering new facets of their relationship in the wake of their shared loss. Ruma’s mother was the symbolic link to their Bengali roots, and both father and daughter privately struggle with the same challenge: accepting that they like aspects of Western life that Ruma’s mother would not have approved of and recognizing that, in some ways, they’re freer after her passing. At the end of the week, Ruma invites her father to move in, but he declines, choosing to embrace his independence instead. After he leaves, Ruma finds a postcard he accidentally left behind, revealing his relationship with Mrs. Bagchi. She ultimately accepts this development, supporting her father’s happiness.

In “Hell-Heaven,” a young Usha and her mother, Aparna, are approached one afternoon by Pranab Chakraborty, a recent Bengali immigrant attending MIT. Usha’s parents quickly befriend Pranab, whom Usha calls Pranab Kaku—“Uncle Pranab.” They welcome him warmly, providing the familiar comforts and culture of his former community. Aparna, Pranab, and Usha explore New England while Usha’s father is at work, and in time, Aparna falls in love with Pranab. However, when Pranab becomes engaged to an American woman named Deborah, he slowly distances himself from Usha’s family and their shared Bengali roots. Even after Pranab and Deborah marry and have two daughters, the jealous and heartbroken Aparna maintains that Deborah will one day leave him. After 23 years, Pranab and Deborah divorce. Surprisingly, Deborah calls Aparna for support. Later, Aparna confesses to Usha that after Pranab’s wedding, she nearly set herself on fire.

In “A Choice of Accommodations,” Amit and his wife, Megan, travel to his former New England boarding school for the wedding of Pam, his old friend and one-time crush. Pam, the headmaster’s daughter, attended Columbia with Amit, where they grew close. Both Amit and Megan are anxious about the wedding for different reasons: Amit wants to make a good impression on his former classmates (despite wishing he was at home with his two young daughters Maya and Monika instead), while Megan knows no one at the wedding and suspects that Amit may have a hidden romantic history with Pam.

As they mingle, Amit mistakenly introduces an old classmate to Megan as “Tim” instead of Ted Schultz, a slip that leaves him embarrassed. Amit often feels eclipsed by his wife, who completed medical school after he’d dropped out. Throughout the evening, he nervously consumes too much alcohol, eventually abandoning Megan and returning to their hotel room, where he promptly passes out. The next morning, he learns that Megan stayed out until sunrise, deeply upset by his behavior. They wander the campus in search of Pam’s celebratory brunch, only to miss it and find themselves caught in a storm. Taking refuge in a vacant dorm, Amit finally confesses his schoolboy crush on Pam, and shortly following this revelation, he and Megan have sex in the empty dorm room.

In “Only Goodness,” Sudha gives her little brother, Rahul, his first beer, and by the following year, she notices that he always has a six-pack hidden in his room. Academically gifted, Rahul receives early admission to Cornell, and his and Sudha’s parents couldn’t be prouder. However, his fondness for alcohol soon turns destructive—he’s arrested for drunk driving, his grades begin to slip, and he is ultimately expelled. Meanwhile, Sudha meets magazine editor Roger Featherstone while she’s studying in London, and they become engaged. Before their wedding reception, Rahul announces his engagement to Elena, whom his parents have never met, and his father forbids the marriage. At Sudha’s reception, Rahul makes a drunken toast, deeply embarrassing her, and soon after, he disappears from her life entirely.

Sudha becomes pregnant after her wedding, giving birth to a son named Neel. Months later, she receives a letter from Rahul, explaining that he’s sober and living with Elena and her daughter. Sudha invites him to London, where they share a happy reunion. Rahul bonds with Neel, and Sudha is proud of her brother’s apparent progress. On his final night in London, Rahul encourages Sudha and Roger to see a movie while he watches Neel. However, when they return home, Sudha finds Neel alone in a partially-filled bathtub and Rahul passed out in another room. The next morning, she kicks out her remorseful brother, breaking her heart.

In “Nobody’s Business,” PhD student Paul’s roommate, Sang, frequently receives phone calls from Bengali men who want to date her. However, Sang doesn’t take any of these suitors seriously—she’s been dating Farouk, an Egyptian Harvard professor, for three years. Paul develops a crush on Sang shortly after she moves in, attracted to her warmth. When Farouk comes over, he ignores Paul and their other roommate, Heather, while he and Sang shut themselves in her bedroom. Paul doesn’t like how Farouk treats Sang, especially after overhearing their disputes on a couple occasions.

While Sang is visiting her sister in London, a woman named Deirdre calls. Paul learns that Farouk is having an affair with Deirdre but ultimately chooses not to tell Sang. After a couple months, Deirdre calls again, this time speaking directly to Sang. Sang furiously confronts Paul, who suggests a plan to verify that Farouk is cheating. He speaks with Deirdre on the phone as Sang listens in, and Deirdre clarifies everything. Apologizing to Paul, Sang asks him to drive her to Farouk’s apartment. There, Paul and Farouk physically fight, Sang collapses in tears, and the police are called. Sang relocates to London shortly thereafter, and Paul receives his PhD. One afternoon, Paul sees Farouk with another woman and her dog in Cambridge—which Paul finds slightly ironic, as Farouk never “allowed” Sang to have a dog.

The next three stories follow Hema and Kaushik. In “Once in a Lifetime,” Hema reflects on her and Kaushik’s early years. Their mothers met in Cambridge when Kaushik was three and Hema’s mother was pregnant, quickly connecting over the lives they left behind in Calcutta. Kaushik’s family eventually returns to India, and in their absence, Hema wears Kaushik’s hand-me-down clothes. Years later, Kaushik’s father (Dr. Choudhuri) calls to announce they’re moving back to Massachusetts and asks if they can stay with Hema’s family temporarily. Hema’s parents are delighted, but Hema resents having to give up her room for the now 16-year-old Kaushik, whom she barely remembers.

When the Choudhuris arrive, Hema quickly falls for the handsome, but distant, Kaushik. Her parents, meanwhile, notice changes in the Choudhuris, who now embrace western habits like drinking whisky and spending lavishly. For his part, Kaushik remains somber, often wandering alone in the woods and taking photographs. The Choudhuris’ indefinite stay gradually strains the families’ relationship. The day of the first snowfall, Kaushik privately reveals to Hema that his mother (Parul) has terminal breast cancer, which is why they returned to Massachusetts. The Choudhuris soon find a home and move out, and Parul passes away two years later.

“Year’s End” follows Kaushik as he navigates his father’s sudden remarriage a few years after his mother’s death. Now in his final year of college, Kaushik is introduced to his new stepfamily during winter vacation—Chitra, a Bengali widow, and her two young daughters, Rupa and Piu. Despite Chitra’s attempts to welcome him, Kaushik feels resentful, viewing her presence as an erasure of his mother’s memory. When he learns his father has stopped drinking the Johnnie Walker that he once habitually shared with Parul, Kaushik feels even more bereft, the family’s new, more traditional customs deepening his alienation.

While Kaushik is watching Rupa and Piu—whom he’s grown fond of in their short time together—as his father and Chitra attend a New Year’s party, he discovers them looking through photos of his mother and angrily berates them. He storms out with the box of pictures, driving northward along the coast. Reflecting on his mother, he buries her photos to avoid the pain of seeing her face. At his graduation, although Kaushik makes peace with his stepsisters, he understands that he’s done permanent damage to their relationship.

In “Going Ashore,” Hema, now a professor at Wellesley, takes a solo trip to Rome, using a colleague’s apartment for a short getaway before she gets married. She’s engaged to Navin, an Indian professor, though she feels little passion for him. After recently ending a years-long affair with a married man named Julian, Hema now seeks a more secure romantic life. Meanwhile, Kaushik, now a seasoned photojournalist, lives in Rome but travels often for work, covering global tragedies. At a lunch hosted by mutual friends, Hema and Kaushik unexpectedly reunite. They begin a passionate affair, exploring Italy together and avoiding thoughts of their uncertain futures.

In their final week, they visit Volterra, and Kaushik proposes Hema join him in Hong Kong, where he has accepted a position as a photo editor. Hema hesitates, but ultimately chooses her stable life over taking a chance on Kaushik. Heartbroken, Kaushik angrily withdraws, and they part ways. Before beginning his new post, Kaushik travels to Thailand, where he meets a tourist named Henrik who invites him to explore coral reefs. Reflecting on his mother’s memory, Kaushik confronts his fear of the ocean—just as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 strikes. Hema is in Calcutta preparing for her wedding and wondering if she made the right choice when she learns of Kaushik’s death. She realizes that, despite her dependable choice, she still couldn’t avoid heartbreak—she’ll forever carry Kaushik’s loss with her.