Chapter 2: Plant response to elevated CO2 - DRUM - University of ...

I was drying my hair under the sun when Agaas brightened up for me. A
young girl with a bindi, dressed in a red skirt and a white tee shirt, her hair tied
in two plaits, stood outside the gate, red ribbons bouncing.
She called out, “Do you want to initiate friendship?”
I approached her, across the verandah; I don’t think I opened the small
gate; I was surprised at her presence, her important sounding sentence, her
choice of words.
Initiate friendship?
Of course I wanted to, but I quietly said, “Yes”.
“Are you a foreigner?” she asked, her eyes squinting. I was excessively
fair when I was young.
“No,” I said, “am from Bombay.”
“You have big teeth.” I felt my bunny teeth with my tongue, upper lip
stretched. They were big.
“But they are ridged, so you will be lucky in life,” she said looking
squarely at them. “I am Pia, what’s your name?”
“Kashvee.”
“Want to play?” she asked, swinging her arm over, opening the gate.
“Yes, but I have to tell my mother.” I dashed inside and found Mom.
6